René Girard

Interview: Rene Girard

Q: Prof. Girard, the forthcoming issue of Anthropoetics is devoted to your work and I would like to take the opportunity of this interview to establish a dialogue between your work and Generative Anthropology. Let me start with what one could call a basic definition of GA: “The deferral of violence through representation”. This definition brings together in a unique way key elements of modern thinking: the notion of violence, which is central to your work, and deferral, an essential Derridean concept. GA, finally, focuses on representation as a paradoxical tool which not only defines the human but also proposes a means to defer violence. How do you evaluate this new way of thinking?

Origins: A View from the Literature

The best I can do within the space allotted to me is to open the discussion of our first topic, the origin of society, along the lines of Andrew McKenna’ s paper. Most people take for granted that the deconstructive critique of philosophical origins is incompatible with the theory of origin that I defend. Andrew McKenna does not agree, and I generally agree with him.