Being as sacred: on Heidegger’s ontological wanderings

Abstract

René Girard’s Mimetic Theory has put forward a very compelling toolbox whose hermeneutical valour we are willing to test by reading Heidegger’s ontological wandering in the semantic constellation of Being. Finding a lead in Heidegger’s reading of Œdipus’ peripeties as presented in Sophocles’ Œdipus Rex, we will try to translate the fundamental notions of Heidegger’s critique of metaphysics into Girard’s jargon to see if any clarity is gained. It is time to go after Heidegger, both as in following him in his own wandering but also as in chasing him, out of his Holzwege, and eventually go further. Hopefully, some of the obscurities of Heidegger’s text will find in this perspective a new light, without losing any of its fascination.