“Manuscript” by Johnathan Bi
Or "Completing Girard: Antidotes to the Apocalypse"
First, let me say that this isn’t a book entitled “Manuscript.” It really is just a manuscript; one posted online and available to any taker. That being said, this book-length manuscript is no rough draft, no crazed scribblings of some deluded intellectual wanna be. I hope that this manuscript—with the working title “Completing Girard: Antidotes to the Apocalypse*”—does in fact become a book so that it can reach a wider audience. It might receive some more polish, some additions, clarifications, etc., but what work is ever perfect, even at publication? And this work meets any reasonable test on that account.
So great, there’s a manuscript—so what? The manuscript succinctly and accurately (so far as I can discern) describes the insights of Rene Girard. And Bi puts the Girard’s project in comparison to and contrast with social contract theory (Rousseau, Hume, and Smith), Hegel and his tradition, and (perhaps most uniquely), Buddhist theory, especially the work of the American philosopher and Buddhist scholar, David Loy. If this seems like a tall intellectual order, you’re right, it is. But Bi meets and exceeds the requirements of his audacious intellectual project.
Johnathan Bi is a young man who immigrated with his family to Canada from China when Bi was a grade-schooler. Johnathan developed into a math whiz and earned a scholarship to Columbia University (which I hear is a good school). Bi reports that he followed the path of any good math wiz and studied computer science. He reports that he suffered from “Zuckerberg complex” and ventured a start-up after his freshman year. But the start-up didn’t work out. So when he returned to school, he reports that he was chastened and wondered how he’d gotten to this point. Around this time, a friend recommended reading Girard. Returning to school, Bi studied philosophy and Buddhism. In philosophy, in addition to his interest in Girard (who’s very difficult to label because of the breadth and depth of his thinking), Bi read deeply in the social contract, Hegelian, and Buddhist traditions. Now, it seems he’s back in business, so to speak, co-founding an investment firm. But he’s also continuing to pursue his interest in Girard and the relation of Girard’s thought to these other trains of thought.
And who is this Girard? Perhaps to get the best sense of Girard, go to the lecture series that Bi has released in part and that he’ll be continuing to release over the next couple of months. Or go to the podcast interview of Bi on EconTalk with Russ Roberts Or go to Bi’s “manuscript.” I, too, have written just a bit about Girard. I’ve been circling his work for a long time and have only recently undertaken to dive into the deep end. (I’m now almost half-way through Girard’s final book, Battling to the End, which centers on Clausewitz). My thoughts about Girard are here, reviewing Cynthia Haven’s biography of Girard; here, with my earliest recorded encounter with Girard’s thought; here and here in response to a very insightful consideration of Girard by Princeton philosopher Mark Johnston; and here, where I consider Girard in light of his erstwhile student, Peter Thiel.
But enough on background. The manuscript itself is what counts, and it’s a well-crafted argument. Bi doesn’t buy Girard wholesale; instead, he appreciates what Girard has argued and considers Girard’s perspectives in light of thinkers and traditions noted above. Much of Bi’s arguments is based on Girard’s final work, Battling to the End, in which Girard brings an apocalyptic perspective to current affairs. In short, one of the key points of Girard’s project identified the Passion of Jesus as the—may we say “world-historical?”—event that exposed the mechanism of the scapegoat and that demonstrated the innocence of those sacrificed. But Girard sees that this revelation has not come to fruition he had originally postulated. We humans have put our world in great peril, from the threat of nuclear war to climate change (among others threats), because of uncontrolled and unrecognized mimetic rivalry. Battling is at the heart of Bi’s appraisal of Girard. Also, Bi argues that that Girard’s foreboding forecast of apocalypse needn’t come to fruition. To avoid Girard’s apocalyptic forecast, Bi argues that Buddhism provides the most promising path. Both Girard and Buddhism focus on the concept of “desire.” Can—does—Buddhism deal more effectively with mimetic desire (wanting what another desires; a rivalry based on desires for limited goods) than Christianity? A great question, given that Christianity, despite its compelling insight as described by Girard, has lost much of its credibility in some quarters.
Bi had me hooked with his attention to Girard, but his addition of the social contract theorists, the Hegelian tradition, and Buddhism drew me further in. I have some acquaintance and interest in all of these traditions, and I appreciate how each tries to deal with the challenges of human plurality—the reality that we are all unique individuals and that we all belong to diverse groups. I don’t know that Bi has it all figured out, but I do believe that he’s on the right track. And to extend this metaphor, in Girard’s view, we’re tied to the track—to our unrestrained cycles of mimetic desire and rivalry—and we can hear the whistleblowing. Time is limited. Maybe, as Girard seems to suggest in Battling to the End, there’s a reason that the apocalyptic book (The Book of Revelation) was assigned the final place in the New Testament canon. Possibly this final work in the canon is a “what if?” vision, a wake-up call to allow us an opportunity to avoid such an ignominious end and instead, at least in some measure, realize The Kingdom.
I hope Bi continues with his project, and that he gets this manuscript published so that the widest possible public can wrestle with his contentions. It’s about time.
*The title of the manuscript if a play on the French title of Girard’s last book: Achever Clausewitz, which can be translated as Completing Clausewitz. The American publishers went with Battling to the End.