Kierkegaard and Girard

Abstract

Abstract Rene Girard's concept that human psychology begins with a sense of lack or personal deficiency is compared with Kierkegaard's notion of the incompleteness of the self. Mimetic desire, as it is described by Girard, is a phenomenon that Kierkegaard was keenly aware of. Both authors show that mimetic desire leads to a situation captured by the phrase ”the crowd is untruth.” Immature persons, in a state of spiritual cowardice, take offense at God and are scandalized by the possibility of self‐knowledge; they hide in the crowd. The synthesis of Kierkegaard and Girard produces a very powerful Christian interpretation of the psychology of violence.