UC Irvine

In a 2004 correspondence to then Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, German philosopher and sociologist Juergen Habermas considered the prevailing “doubt about whether the democratic constitutional state can renew from its own resources the normative presuppositions of its existence” without turning to “ethical (and religious) traditions of a local nature.” Though Habermas defended his longstanding intellectual commitments to liberal democracy as the best praxis of governance and civil society, he admitted to the existence of certain intrinsic motivational and emotional deficits that prevent citizens in liberal democracies from properly adhering to their “collectively binding (moral) ideals.”

I examined the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol and the general rise of alt-right nationalism as a consequence of just this type of failure to adhere to the moral and normative core of liberal democracy. Using the Christian anthropologist Rene Girard’s theory of mimetic desire and scapegoating and his unique understanding of the “Biblical” origins of our modern moral condition, I analyzed the perennial mechanisms of violence at work in this specific attack on American democracy as well the mechanisms latent in the prevailing strands of illiberalism that enabled it. I assert that Girard’s magnum opus, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, as well as the shorter summation of his work, I See Satan Fall like Lightning, lay the groundwork for an onto-anthropology of modern morality which centers on rejecting scapegoating and identifying with the “real victim.” I contend that Girard’s articulation of the modern dilemma of victimhood succeeds in offering a theoretical basis for what Habermas refers to—in an uncharacteristically vague way—as the “pre-discursive” or “pre-rational” grounding from which the emotional and motivational attachments to liberal democracy flow.

Thus, I found that Girard’s more capacious anthropological/hermeneutic perspective should be integrated into Habermas’ critical defense of liberal democracy as Girard’s position is better equipped to interpret the basic mechanisms which lie behind the contemporary political pathologies that plague liberal democracy as Habermas sees it-- specifically those that gave rise to the January 6th revolt. My examination revealed that Girard’s onto-anthropological understanding of modern morality can function as the motivational, pre-discursive basis for renewing our emotional commitments to liberal democracy’s collectively binding ideals without conflicting with Habermas’ desire to keep the legitimacy of these ideals grounded in reason.