(The self-referential circle of sacrificial logos : gnoseological elements of Rene Girard's thought)

In this paper, I consider the epistemological implications of Rene Girard’s mimetic theory. I first consider the circular nature of mimesis, considering how reason is, according to Girard, sacrificial in essence. I then consider the fundamental connection that Girard draws between literary aesthetics and knowledge: it is in the great novels of the Western tradition, more than in philosophical system, that according to Girard we are provided with some fundamental epistemological tools to explore the nature of violence and the sacred. Girard’s mimetic theory, I argue in the conclusion, leads to two possible epistemological outcomes: a mystical outcome, according to which only faith, and not rational knowledge, should be pursued; and an alternative outcome that, while it remains cautiously distant from any kind of extreme rationalism, still employs rational resources to identify an alternative to sacrificial violence