Abstract

ANDRADE CAMPO, Gabriel Ernesto. CAN MIMETIC THEORY BE FALSIFIED?: GIRARD, POPPER AND SIMÓN BOLIVAR'S DEATH. Univ. philos. [online]. 2010, vol.27, n.55, pp.93-104. ISSN 0120-5323.

Girard's theory about myths is clearly verifiable: there are plenty of myths where, in the midst of a sacrificial crisis, a victim is executed, social peace is reestablished, and the victim emerges as a god. But, it is doubtful that such a theory can be falsified: Girard himself has written that those myths where there is no violence, are also founded on the scapegoat mechanism, but community has erased any traces of violence. If we are to follow Popper's falsasionist criterion, then mimetic theory is not scientific. To illustrate this difficulty, I evaluate Hugo Chavez's recent theory according to which Simón Bolivar was murdered.

Keywords : Girard; scapegoat; Popper; Simón Bolivar; Chavez.

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