Author:

Keywords:

Mimetic rivalry, Metaphysical desire, Interdividuality, Resentment, Patho-etho-logy, Resilience, Autoimmunity, Madness, 2203 Philosophy, 2204 Religion and Religious Studies

Abstract:

The triangular desire and the scapegoat mechanism are the key issues of René Girard's mimetic theory. The imitative desire to have what the other has conceals the 'meta-physical' desire to be the Other. The 'inter-dividual' human being does not recognize in his model/rival or in the idol/scapegoat the mimetic 'counter-part' of himself. How can Nietzsche's reading of the ancient Greek agonal or competitive culture be re-interpreted in the context of his ambivalent relationship with Richard Wagner? What is the correlation of Nietzsche’s mental illness and his choice in favour of the violence by Dionysus against the Judaeo-Christian truth of the innocent victim? Nietzsche's attitude of resentment – from a "thwarted and traumatized desire" (Girard) – is put in a wider cultural-psychological and 'anthropo-ethical' context. The tripartite division of the soul according to Plato, Aristotle's rhetoric 'patho-etho-logy' and the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges Dumézil make up the interpretative framework. Nietzsche's 'patho-logy' – self-knowledge (logos) alienated from desire (pathos) – and the destruction of his moral resilience (ethos) typify an 'autoimmune crisis' (Derrida).