The Ideas of Rene Girard: An Anthropology of Religion and Violence

We began with the idea that underpins all of Girard’s theories––imitation. Conflict between people, he believes, is rooted in our propensity for imitation or in what he calls “mimetic desire”—an idea that began to take shape for him through his study of the great European novelists.

“Individuals who desire the same thing are united by something so powerful that as long as they can share whatever they desire they remain the best of friends. As soon as they cannot, they become the worst of enemies.”

The truth, which the great novelists reveal, according to Girard, is that our desires are generally inspired by the desires of others. We want things, not because they are inherently desirable, but because someone else’s desire for them has made them attractive to us.