La violence extrême : questions philosophiques et réalités proche-orientales

Abstract

The use of the term « extreme violence » in political writings has become so common in recent decades that it is sometimes abused. It is therefore necessary to specify its conceptual content. To this end, we questioned Clausewitz’s text, On War, which was commented on by Raymond Aron, in the context of a conflict between powers that could use nuclear weapons, and which served as a basis for René Girard’s final reflection on the mimetic violence likely to lead to the apocalypse. Mentioning this double eventuality is enough to explain why any questioning of the phenomenon of extreme violence usually implies, among the authors who have dealt with it, the questions of its origin and its end. It therefore seemed interesting for us to test, through references to certain recent conflicts in the Middle East, the validity of the proposed responses. In this context, we have focused on the wars in Lebanon and the interpretations developed by the analyst Samir Frangié, a declared disciple of Girard.