Rene Girard

French literary critic and philosopher who developed mimetic theory — arguing that human desire is fundamentally imitative (we desire what others desire), that this creates rivalry and violence, that all cultures manage this violence through scapegoating, and that Christianity uniquely reveals and deconstructs the scapegoating mechanism.

Created mimetic theory as a unified account of human violence and culture — Girard's triple insight (desire is mimetic → mimetic desire creates rivalry and violence → violence is managed through scapegoating) and his argument that the Gospels uniquely reveal this mechanism by siding with the victim provides the most original contemporary philosophy of culture.