Modernity | René Girard's Mimetic Theory

Rescued by Christianity, modernity is distinctly different than the violent, deceitful, and stagnant societies of yore. We are the most loving, truthful, and innovative culture ever to exist. Resting uneasily alongside this fundamental affirmation of modernity, however, is Girard’s puzzling insistence that things have barely changed at all: we now simply persecute victims under the banner of love, rigidly adhere to scientific dogmas under the guise of free inquiry, and package trivialities as radical innovations. Despite our high-minded ideals, stubborn human nature refuses to budge and, so, the perversions of modernity take on the shape of hypocrisy. Even humanity’s greatest triumph is terribly ambivalent and limited.

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TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:11 Modernity as Rupture
00:08:09 Modernity as Continuity
00:11:18 Metaphor of the Rocket
00:13:40 The Force of Love
00:22:08 Theatre
00:24:49 Hypocrisy
00:34:13 The Force of Truth
00:38:11 The Epistemology of Love
00:47:50 The Church of Science
00:59:39 The Blindspots of Science
01:05:06 The Force of Innovation
01:15:49 Fashion
01:22:00 An Ephemeral Triumph