Inherent Scarcity
Mimetic rivalries are fought over objects that are scarce. Often these objects are metaphysical and include such things as honor, power, and prestige, which are perceivably limited. Presumably, if there was enough of these objects to go around, mimesis would be defused. However, mimetic theory challenges the classical economic assumption that an object’s scarcity creates […]
Acquisitive Mimesis
Acquisitive mimesis describes the transfer of desires from one person to another. In triangular, or mimetic desire, a mediator exists between the person desiring and the object being desired. These mediator models how to desire and thus passes on the desire. Depending on how far removed the mediator is from the subject, the desire can […]
Triangular Desire
Mimetic desire involves a subject (the person desiring), an object (the thing being desired), and a mediator (the person modeling desire) between the two. These three points, when mapped, form a triangle. Hence triangular desire. Rene Girard’s insight into the shape of desire radically transformed the previously held assumption that desire is strictly horizontal, occurring […]
Shared Ignorance
This blog by Sherwood “Woody” Belangia is a preparation for his book on Plato’s Republic, which will be what he calls a “defective reading” of the text. By defective he means that his study of the text is not actually about the text but about his real object of interest (and, in his opinion’s, Plato’s) […]
Imitation
Taking someone or something else as a model for action. Children are experts at imitation; adults usually mask it. Imitation is the positive force driving childhood development, adult learning, and the acquisition of virtue. Imitation is neutral—we can either imitate positively (what I refer to as “emulation”) or negatively. The value of imitation is a […]
Mimetic Desire in the Art Market: Mona Lisa
What art feuds reveal about human desire The art world has a fetish for conspiracy. Take a casual sweep of the news over a given year and you will turn up any number of stories about stolen masterpieces, disputed provenances, and multi-million-dollar black-market auctions. Art itches for intrigue and the latest installment involve the Mona […]
Mimesis Versus Imitation
Mimesis is a funny word. It would make Strunk & White (who taught us never to use unnecessary or overly complicated words) cringe. So why use it? It turns out there’s a good reason Quite simply, mimesis is not the same as imitation. It refers to something far more common, far more powerful, and far […]
Individuality
Individual psychology is the first major attempt to formally apply mimetic theory to psychology. It rests on the notion of individuality, first articulated by the psychologist Jean-Michel Oughourlian, to describe the way that human psychology can only be understood in the relation between individuals, or in the space between different human persons. The idea of […]
Founding Murder
Every “culture” is founded on certain rituals, institutions, prohibitions, taboos—things that, according to Girard, are all predicated on a founding murder. Cultural rituals, institutions, prohibitions, and taboos are all thing devised to manage the spread of violence and, in essence, to re-enact the founding murder that was the foundation of culture through rituals rather than […]
Prohibitions and Taboos
Taboos are a proscribed set of actions, events, and phenomena that society deems unacceptable. These sorts of actions, such as incest, are unanimously acknowledged and avoided because they signal a fundamental threat to relationships, as well as the possibility of violence. In mimetic theory, taboos and prohibitions play a reconciling and pacifying role in the […]