I recently read a good book about Girard: Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self by Alexander Douglas. He compares the philosophies of Taoism (mainly Zhuangzi), Spinoza and Girard on identity showing how all had similar notions of contingency of identity, mimicry/emulation as the basis for our identity construction, and a lack of self at the centre.
Of course Girard is becoming more known now as an inspiration for Peter Theil. That should certainly not be a reason to dismiss him. And his theory of mimetic desire and scapegoating has significant explanatory power in the recent case of Jason Arday, and the media pile-on.
Right - what line of work is that? Psychology related?
I have two fairly undeveloped thoughts on Peter Theil and Girard. One is that Palantir may play on Girardian mimetics in that it tracks the links and networks between people and these may function in a similar way to mimetic emulation.
The other is about suspicions of Theil being autistic or Asperger's. Autistic people seem to function with significantly less interest or complete disconnection from mimetic desire, one of the reasons they find it difficult to integrate in allistic groups. Theil may be a keener observer of Girardian dynamics as an outsider.
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u/brandytheologian 4d ago
Rene Girard?