Lecture VII: The One Who Withholds | René Girard's Mimetic Theory
Johnathan Bi
What Is the Difference Between Law and Ritual?
Despite similarities, legal systems and rituals are very different. Throwing a child in a volcano every full moon is radically different than sentencing a criminal according to an agreed upon law. The most law-like ritual that Gerard brings up is a ritual enacted by the Chuchik people of the Arctic. It's done explicitly in response to an explicit wrongdoing instead of carnival that occurs on a set schedule. But it's not the guilty party who is punished, but someone innocent,. An innocent bystander on your own tribe, on your own team, who isn't related, that's who gets killed.
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