More Questions.... -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 08:01:28 02/08/08 Fri
Author: Kiernan
Subject: More Questions....

I just wanted some clarity on what Girard is saying on pg. 115 of Violence and the Sacred. He is discussing violence and non-violence, and he writes, "There is nothing arbitrary about the difference between violence and non-violence, but men always treat it as a difference within a process that is violent from beginning to end.....The rite selects a certain form of violence as 'good,' as necessary to the unity of the community, and sets up in opposition to it another sort of violence that is deemed 'bad,' because it is affiliated to violent reciprocity." Girard seems to be saying that there is a genuine distinction between violence and nonviolence, but that the difference between good and bad is arbitrary. He is not making a morally relativist statement, is he? He rather seems to be saying that violence is genuinely bad and nonviolence is genuinely good, but that cultures redefine thes terms to mask over the true origin of their rites. Just want to be sure that I'm understanding this correctly....

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]