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 […]
Metaphysical Desire
A desire not to possess what another person, the model, possesses (or wants to possess) but to be the model. Metaphysical desire is the type of mimetic desire that has moved beyond acquisitive desire—the desire to acquire something that a model wants—to metaphysical desire—the desire to be who the model is. This desire is a […]
A Short Treatise on the Metaphysics of Tsunamis – by Jean-Pierre Dupuy
In 1755 the city of Lisbon was destroyed by a terrible earthquake. Almost 250 years later, an earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean unleashed a tsunami whose devastating effects were felt over a vast area. In each case, a natural catastrophe came to be interpreted as a consequence of human evil. Between these two events, two […]