[throwno]

I think the people who get their mind blown by Girard never read any other literary theory. Yes, my 10x Rockstar Ninja friend, Girard is from the literature department! Horror! But wait, what other mind blowing insights on life might those English majors know that you don't? Uh oh!

[chadcmulligan]

Who else is there to read? They didn't do to much literary theory in my engineering courses :-). I am finding lately the humanities do have something to offer after all.

[teamwork007]

I suppose it's highly personal, but I'd say Carl Jung is pretty good. Also Schopenhauer, Tillich, Niebuhr, Emerson, Thoreau, Kierkegaard, St. Augustine, Will Durant, Bertrand Russell, Nietzsche.. Plato and Socrates are usually good starting points in the 'Western tradition'.

[scottlocklin]

I dunno, Aristotle seems kind of important. Or if you must have someone more recent, Alasdair MacIntyre.

I confess I didn't get much out of my forays into Girard. It seems to mostly be amateur primatology. It's entirely possible I didn't try hard enough, or whatever Thiel got out of it, he got out of it in person rather than from the books. It's also possible Girard is overrated by Thiel fanboy types.