The Philosophy of Rene Girard, Luke Burgis

Rebel Wisdom

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".

Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of Memetic Desire in Everyday Life': https://lukeburgis.com/wanting/

He joined us to introduce this fascinating thinker and to answer RW members' questions about why this work is so significant now.