Mimetic Theory – A Compendium of Videos
This is a complete list of every pedagogic video on mimetic theory and René Girard. This list will be updated weekly as new content arises. “When scandals proliferate, human beings become so obsessed with their rivals that they lose sight of the objects for which they compete and begin to focus angrily on one another.” […]
Mimetic AI—Mimesis and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence and two of its sub-domains, machine learning and deep learning, often develop with the aid of mimetic algorithms. Financial engineers use mimetic algorithms to drive momentum trading in stocks and other financial assets; sex robots are programmed to mimic the facial expressions and flirtatious voices of their suitors; and even moral theorists and […]
Cancel Culture
So-called “Cancel culture” could be thought of as a modern-day form of bloodyless scapegoating—a scapegoating mechanism which, having lost its power because it has been exposed by Christian revelation, is a victim-making machine. No sooner than one person get cancelled and hashtags start trending on social media then another scapegoat is sought. Cancelled victims only […]
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Psychologist Abraham Maslow first published his famous “Hierarchy of Needs” in 1943. He illustrated the way that he believed human motivation moves—from the fulfillment of basic physiological needs to the fulfillment of the self. Maslow’s hierarchy gives the appearance that “physiological” needs and “safety” needs make up the foundational and largest set of needs for […]
Abortion as Ritual Sacrifice: A Girardian Take on the Scapegoat Mechanism in Sexual Politics
The following are excerpts from the essay Bernadette Waterman Ward called ABORTION AS A SACRAMENT: MIMETIC DESIRE AND SACRIFICE IN SEXUAL POLITICS The key elements of sacrificial religion, as Girard defines it, are the presence ofintolerable tension that must lead to social disruption; the choice of a victimwho cannot strike back to absorb the community’s […]
Mimetic Appetite
Mimetic appetite is a way to describe the power of mimesis as a kind of passion, to take a category from classical metaphysics. According to Thomas Aquinas, humans and the rest of creation have appetites that drive them toward their telos, or ultimate ends. Humans, though, are more complicated than any other kind of being […]
Positive Mimesis
The idea that there is such a thing as positive mimesis is a somewhat controversial one. Girard himself used the term “mimesis” (derived from the Greek) rather than “imitation” partly to disambiguate it from mere imitation. Mimesis is something that is usually, but not always, hidden. It easily and often leads to some sort of […]
Marxism and Mimetic Desire
Karl Marx in his work Das Kapital describes the fetishization of commodities that he thinks are typical in capitalist societies. At first glance, observes Marx, there is nothing extraordinary about commodities. But if we penetrate deeper, we find strange distortions. The form of wood, for instance, is altered if a table is made out of […]
Anorexia and Mimetic Desire
In 1995, televisions were introduced to a corner of the Fiji islands that had never had television before. Fijian culture has traditionally viewed a strong appetite and a strong, “full” body as positive qualities. But within only three years after the introduction of T.V.’s, 74% of the girls there reported feeling “too fat.” A full […]
A TL;DR Summary of Alex Danco’s Introduction to Girard’s Mimetic Theory
Alex Danco lives in Toronto, works at Shopify, and writes an excellent blog and newsletter on Substack. In April 2019, he posted a summary of Girard’s mimetic theory that is so good we thought it was worth giving a TL;DR version. Here it is. TRIANGULAR DESIRE Humans are imitative creatures. We are evolutionarily programmed to […]