Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture

Rene Girard is one of the most provocative and striking intellectuals of the twentieth century. Over the past forty years, his work has continued to exert an influence across literary theory, philosophy and the social sciences. Echoing the format of his early works, Evolution and Conversion brings Girard into dialogue with two sympathetic interviewers and allows him to speak candidly about the major tenets of his life and thought.

Hailed by Michel Serres as the 'Charles Darwin' of human sciences, Girard is one of the few thinkers who has used the insights of sociobiology to explain the emergence of culture and institutions. Evolution and Conversion draws out not only this aspect of his thought but also emphasizes the centrality of religion to his work. Girard's reflection on the relationship between violence and religion is both original and persuasive and, given the urgency of this issue in our contemporary world, in need of reappraisal.

About the Author:
Rene Girard is the Andrew B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of French Language, Literature, and Civilization at Stanford University, USA

About the Author:
Pierpaolo Antonello is Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of St John's College

About the Author:
Joao Cezar de Castro Rocha is Professor of Comparative Transatlantic Studies at the University of Manchester and Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany

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Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture

Rene Girard is one of the most provocative and striking intellectuals of the twentieth century. Over the past forty years, his work has continued to exert an influence across literary theory, philosophy and the social sciences. Echoing the format of his early works, Evolution and Conversion brings Girard into dialogue with two sympathetic interviewers and allows him to speak candidly about the major tenets of his life and thought.

Hailed by Michel Serres as the 'Charles Darwin' of human sciences, Girard is one of the few thinkers who has used the insights of sociobiology to explain the emergence of culture and institutions. Evolution and Conversion draws out not only this aspect of his thought but also emphasizes the centrality of religion to his work. Girard's reflection on the relationship between violence and religion is both original and persuasive and, given the urgency of this issue in our contemporary world, in need of reappraisal.

About the Author:
Rene Girard is the Andrew B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of French Language, Literature, and Civilization at Stanford University, USA

About the Author:
Pierpaolo Antonello is Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of St John's College

About the Author:
Joao Cezar de Castro Rocha is Professor of Comparative Transatlantic Studies at the University of Manchester and Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany

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Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture

Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture

by René Girard
Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture

Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture

by René Girard

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Overview

Rene Girard is one of the most provocative and striking intellectuals of the twentieth century. Over the past forty years, his work has continued to exert an influence across literary theory, philosophy and the social sciences. Echoing the format of his early works, Evolution and Conversion brings Girard into dialogue with two sympathetic interviewers and allows him to speak candidly about the major tenets of his life and thought.

Hailed by Michel Serres as the 'Charles Darwin' of human sciences, Girard is one of the few thinkers who has used the insights of sociobiology to explain the emergence of culture and institutions. Evolution and Conversion draws out not only this aspect of his thought but also emphasizes the centrality of religion to his work. Girard's reflection on the relationship between violence and religion is both original and persuasive and, given the urgency of this issue in our contemporary world, in need of reappraisal.

About the Author:
Rene Girard is the Andrew B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of French Language, Literature, and Civilization at Stanford University, USA

About the Author:
Pierpaolo Antonello is Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of St John's College

About the Author:
Joao Cezar de Castro Rocha is Professor of Comparative Transatlantic Studies at the University of Manchester and Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781350018242
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 02/23/2017
Series: Bloomsbury Revelations
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 216
File size: 457 KB

About the Author


René Girard is the Andrew B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of French Language, Literature, and Civilization at Stanford University.

Pierpaolo Antonello, Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College, is currently a member of COV&R, and has worked for many years on the relationship between literature, philosophy and science.

João Cezar de Castro Rocha is Professor of Comparative Transatlantic Studies at the University of Manchester and Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany.

Dr Michael Kirwan SJ is Head of Theology at Heythrop College in the University of London, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements     vi
Foreword     vii
Introduction: 'One long argument from the beginning to the end'   Pierpaolo Antonello   Joao Cezar de Castro Rocha     1
The Life of the Mind     17
'A Theory by Which to Work': The Mimetic Mechanism     56
The Symbolic Species     96
Dialogues and Criticism: From Frazer to Levi-Strauss     136
Method, Evidence and Truth     159
The Scandal of Christianity     196
Modernity, Postmodernity and Beyond     234
Chronology of Girard's Life     268
List of Girard's Publications     272
Index     275

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