The Browser - Ukraine and Girard

Serhii Plokhy On Ukraine and Russia

Sophie Roell | Five Books | 24th February

Discussion of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its historical roots. "What we see is the process of disintegration of one of the last world empires ... The Bolsheviks held [the Russian Empire] together, but it still fell apart in 1991, almost overnight. Everyone was surprised. It was a miracle that there was no major war or bloodshed. Now we realize that the war was just postponed" (3,500 words)

Why Girardians Exist

Joshua Landy | Republics Of Letters | 24th February 2012

Amusing and well-footnoted attack on the theories of René Girard, which Landy places more or less on a level with Scientology. Even if, as Girard claims, we mimic the desires of others, we would still have an near-infinity of desires from which to choose. As for Girard's theory that early humans resolved conflicts by sacrificing scapegoats, it is as "fanciful" as Freud's Oedipus Complex (14,000 words)

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