Scapegoating: Prehistoric Conflict Resolution 101

Scapegoating: Prehistoric Conflict Resolution 101
The Hoover Institution - Hoover Institution
Born in Avignon on Christmas Day 1923, philosopher René Girard is the author of works that are published in more than two dozen languages, including The Scapegoat and Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World. His latest book, Achever Clausewitz, will be published in the United States in 2010 as Battling to the End: Politics, War, and Apocalypse. In 2005, Professor Girard received the highest honor in France, induction as one of the forty members of the Academie Francaise.First describing the triangular structure of desire -- object, model, and subject -- Girard tells how conflicts are resolved and why human society is not marked by total conflict all the time. He further speaks of the intersection of the universal themes of mythology and Christianity and Christianity's future."History...is a test of mankind," says René Girard, and "mankind is failing that test."