Positivity and Negativity: A Comparison Between Byung Chul Han and René Girard

Abstract

The article proposes a comparison between the perspectives of René Girard and Byung Chul Han on violence, in order to understand the contemporary dynamics of the subject. Girard analyzes violence as a result of mimetic desire, while Han relates it to the desire to assert the self in capitalist society. Girard, in works such as Deceit, desire and the novel and Violence and the Sacred, expounds the theory of triangular desire and the scapegoat as the origin of culture. On the other hand, Han, in Topology of Violence, argues that violence arises from the desire for self-affirmation and constant production of the self in the capitalist context. Although they start from different premises, both criticize modernity and its promises of autonomy. Girard points out how imitation leads to melancholy, while Han exposes the depression of the self-exploiting subject. In addition, transcendence and immanence are discussed in contemporary society, where the sacred is diluted or disappears. Both negative and positive perspectives of desire offer a profound understanding of current social and psychological dynamics.