희생양 메커니즘과 폭력의 윤리적 문제 - 르네 지라르의 모방이론과 희생양 메커니즘을 중심으로 -

Abstract

I want to analyze critically the problems of violence focusing on the Mimesis theory and Scapegoat mechanism of René Girard. I surveyed the origins of violence that endanger the individual and the society and want to suggest the solutions to it. According to Girard, victim mechanism is the phenomenon that the tendency toward violence transfers collectively. When the community runs into danger because of reciprocal conflict, it tends to remove the violence through pouring the reciprocal hatred into the weak or minorities. Imposing the scapegoat with all responsibility for their conflict, the community sacrifice him. As a result, the community begin to recover stability and peace. The victim mechanism is a useful instrument to save the community from crisis and to stop a vicious circle of violence. The function of the victim is to stabilize the community and prevent an explosion from the conflict. The victims are so weak that they aren't able to retaliate or seek revenge. The violence toward the scapegoat is related to all of the community because all of them participate in this violence. Thus this violence is based on unanimity. The victim mechanism has problems straightening the power structure of the victimizer and justifying the sacrifice of the depressor. But from the viewpoint of victims, it is just another act of violence even if it brought about a good goal and an efficient result. The victim has double faces of the sacred and the evil. The sacred victim comes out of these double functions. This has become the cause of violence and also brought communities peace. But victim mechanism is a temporary band-aid. When the community faces a crisis, it causes a vicious circle. Sacrificial ritual contains the collective crime. To make our world more just and peaceful, first of all, we must overcome victim mechanism. For this purpose, we must meditate on the spirit of peace that Jesus revealed to us.