|
|
|
|
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam > Blaise Pascal Instituut > Girard Studiekring > COV&R 2007 > Abstracts Papers
Roberto farneti
On Discord, Justice, and What There Is. A Girardian Perspective on Conflict Resolution
Email - Profile - Subtheme # 5 - Paper
ABSTRACT
Current theories of international justice, conflict-resolution, and peace-making seem to rest on the assumption that discord among humans can in principle be settled by means of a fair allocation of some stakes that constitute reasons for action.
This assumption, though, fails to account for a blind spot in the area of human discord, in which conflict does not arise over the appropriation of existing goods, but, rather, it is discord itself that sets the stakes, which end up functioning as rationalizers in the development of contentious issues. The mutual signalling (blaming, scolding, etc.) that eventuates in open manifestations of hostility is explained in terms of ontological commitments to objects (or facts or states) whose existence is instrumental to discord itself. While an entirely new level of reality is created, in which anonymous objects are turned into bones of contention, animosity and discord are fuelled.
The article elaborates on René Girards theory of mimetic desire as a new way of looking at the causes of human discord. It surveys current conflict resolution theories in the possibilities and implications afforded by a Girardian perspective.