Not everyone gravitates instantly to the ideas of René Girard, one of the 40 members of the Académie Française, the highest honor France bestows on its intellectuals. Many people find him hard to fathom, even though I’ve written easy articles about him here and here.
Girard, interviewed Dec. 1
So here’s another chance: The Hoover Institution’s Peter Robinson has interviewed René for his series, “Uncommon Knowledge.” The whole shebang will be on Youtube here.
The series consists of five short segments of about six to eight minutes apiece. The opening segment discusses Girard’s concept of “mimetic desire” and how “example is the key to bad as well as good behavior.” The second segment discusses how the scapegoat has traditionally kept mankind from being in “total conflict all of the time.”
More segments to come for one of the greatest minds of our times — who, by the way, turns 86 this Christmas …