What is René Girard?
{{Infobox scientist |name = René Girard |image = René Girard.jpg |image_size = 225px |caption = René Girard in 2007 |birth_name=René Noël Théophile Girard |birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1923|12|25}} |birth_place = [[Avignon]], [[France]] |death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2015|11|4|1923|12|25}} |death_place = [[Stanford, California]], [[United States|U.S.]] |citizenship = |nationality = |fields = |workplaces = [[Duke University]],<br />[[Bryn Mawr College]],<br />[[Johns Hopkins University]],<br />[[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York|State University of New York at Buffalo]],<br />[[Stanford University]] |alma_mater = [[École nationale des chartes]] ([[Master's degree]])<br />[[Indiana University]] ([[Ph.D]]) |doctoral_advisor = |academic_advisors = |doctoral_students = |notable_students = [[Peter Thiel]] |known_for = [[#Mimetic desire|Mimetic desire]]<br />[[Scapegoat]] mechanism as origin of sacrifice and foundation of human [[culture]] |influences = [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] |influenced = |awards = [[Académie française]] ([[List of members of the Académie française#Seat 37|Seat 37]])<br />Knight of the [[Légion d’honneur]]<br />Commandeur of the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]] |signature = Signature René Girard.svg |footnotes = }} '''René Noël Théophile Girard''' ({{IPAc-en|ʒ|i|ˈ|r|ɑr|d}}; {{IPA-fr|ʒiʁaʁ|lang}}; December 25, 1923 – November 4, 2015)<ref>[http://unsettledchristianity.com/rene-girard-gone/ René Girard, gone]</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/CornerstoneForum/photos/a.274741552567637.65495.240318862676573/982552325119886/?type=3 Cornerstone Forum on Facebook]</ref> was a [[French people|French]]-[[Americans|American]] [[historian]], [[literary critic]], and [[philosophy of social science|philosopher of social science]]. His writings were based on [[anthropological philosophy]]. Girard was the author of