Shulga E.N. Philosophical Foundations of Rene Girard’s Fundamental Antropology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2020.3.1
Elena N. Shulga
Doctor of Sciences (Philosophy), Leading Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences
Goncharnaya St, 12, 119019 Moscow, Russian Federation
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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4570-9377
Abstract. Rene Girard (1923–2015) – French philosopher, professor of Stanford University, the member of Acadamie Francaise, the author of numerous works, some of which have recently become accessible to the Russian audience. His most popular books: "Resurrection from the Underground", "Violence and the Sacred", "Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World", "Job, the Victim of His People", "I See Satan Fall Like Lightning", "The Scapegoat". However, Rene Girard's conceptual heritage has not been properly appreciated by philosophers due to the diversity of creative aspirations of the thinker. Most often, he is called a professional philologist, religious scholar, cultural scientist, and his work as an innovator in the field of social and humanitarian sciences is associated with the creation of fundamental anthropology and the theory of culture based on it. Studying the works of Rene Girard is an exciting activity, supposing the immersion in the literary texts and biblical stories analyzed by him. These texts serve the author as a basis for solving the questions of vital importance for human existence and being. The search for answers to vital questions has always concerned both philosophers and theologians. Above all those are the questions related to the grasping of spiritual truths. Not always Girard formulated their meaning directly but through the introducing concepts that reveal the deeper aspects of socially directed human actions, providing these actions with a new categorical meaning. Thus, in the book "The Scapegoat", which will be analyzed in the given paper, the philosopher shows that the human ability to perceive own misery as the punishment for the specific misbehavior or sins is just the superficial point of view and it witnesses of the introvert character of the man/woman. But any personal catastrophe is also a sacrifice – precisely such point of view according to the biblical story of Job not only reconciles the man with life circumstances but raises him over them. Girard shows that the search for external causes that explain human misfortunes or catastrophes on a larger scale runs through the entire history of mankind is reflected in literature, historical and cultural monuments from Sophocles to Jesus. This article is devoted to the interpretation of the main conceptual ideas of Girard from the position of philosophical hermeneutics in order to clarify the philosophical foundations of fundamental anthropology.
Key words: philosophy, hermeneutics, text, interpretation, victim, persecution.
Philosophical Foundations of Rene Girard’s Fundamental Antropology by Shulga E.N. is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International
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