Traps for sacrifice: Bateson's schizophrenic and Girard's scapegoat

John Perceval (1803-1876), who suffered from schizophrenia, published two books on his experience. More than a century later, Gregory Bateson discovered in Perceval’s memoirs an anticipation of his own theories on schizophrenia. To Bateson, Perceval describes the interactive patterns between himself, his family and the hospital psychiatrists, as examples of ‘double bind’. The essay underlines the strong convergence between Bateson’s theory of schizophrenia and René Girard’s theory of the scapegoat, in which the sacrificial ceremonies are the main way of constructing social order. In that perspective, the schizophrenic becomes as a particular example of a scapegoat.