Mimetic Desire

  • Content matters: Teaching, Rene realized that the stories in a lot of historical books were the same.
  • Desire is always a borrowed thing - otherwise it would be called instinct (aka. “animal instinct or appetite”). Hence, human desire is changeable by it’s very nature.
  • “We learn because we want to be like the people from who we learn”.
    • Any master and pupil are in the “double blind” situation.
    • You need to imitate something but not too effectively.
  • When the resources are limited, this causes conflict.
  • The closer we are, the more we want the same thing. The more we want the same thing (given that the same thing is limited), the more we compete.
    • Example: Shakeshpere, Aristotle
  • Competition is inherint in imitation. Once it begins, it is self-sustaining. Because the conflict will be the main source of attraction. The competitor will become the main source of attraction. Ex. arguments as an everyday example, War is another brutal example. In other words, the point of fact that started the conflict is long forgot - scandal. The rivals grow alike with each attempt to be different. The is a reinforcing loop. However, the rivals only focus on the differences - runaway immitation.
  • The self - Pushed by a collection of desires.

Scapegoat: The Ritual Sacrifice

The Apocalypse

The Adversary

The Atonement

References

Interpreting Girard

References

Introduction

  • The case for engaging with Girard
  • The case against engaging with Girard
  • Girard’s biography

Mimesis

Memetic Desire

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  • Introduction
  • Mimesis
  • Mimesis and Normativity
  • Mimetic Desire
  • What is Meant by “Being”
  • The First End of Being: Reality
  • The Second End of Being: Persistence
  • The Third End of Being: Self-sufficiency
  • Metaphysical Desire
  • The Malleability of Metaphysical Desire
  • The Power of Metaphysical Desire
  • The Deceitfulness of Metaphysical Desire
  • The Ungovernability of Metaphysical Desire
  • Original Sin

Memetic Rivalry

  • Introduction
  • Internal and External Mediation
  • Mimetic Rivalry
  • Doubles
  • False Differences
  • American Psycho
  • The Negative Phase of Mimesis
  • Conforming to Contrarianism
  • The Psycho-Social Pathologies of Man
  • Fetishization
  • Alienation
  • Bipolarity
  • Masochism
  • Oppression
  • Inequity
  • Hegel’s Theodicy
  • Rousseau’s Theodicy
  • Girard’s Theodicy
  • A Critique of Critique

Scapegoat Mechanism

  • Introduction
  • The Trojan War and Reciprocal Violence
  • Oedipus and the Scapegoat Mechanism
  • Step One: Mimetic Contagion
  • Step Two: Founding Murder
  • Consensus, Deceit, and Catharsis
  • Three Marks of the Victim
  • Step Three: Divinization
  • A Revaluation of Values
  • Step Four: Institutionalization
  • The Violent Foundations of Society
  • The Hymn of Purusha
  • The Founding of Rome
  • Moral Paradigm Shifts

Christianity

  • Introduction
  • The Myth Vaccine
  • Cain and Abel
  • Joseph and His Brothers
  • The Incompleteness of the Hebrew Bible
  • Completing the Message
  • The Crucifixion
  • Christ’s Innocence
  • Christ’s Truth
  • Christ’s Love
  • An Anthropology of the Cross
  • Girard’s Interpretation of Satan
  • Girard’s Interpretation of the Christian Revelation
  • Girard’s Interpretation of the Anti-Christ
  • Girard’s Interpretation of the Kingdom of God
  • Girard’s Interpretation of the Apocalypse
  • A Christian Dictionary
  • Girard’s Unorthodoxy: The Sacrificial Reading
  • Girard’s Unorthodoxy: God’s Absence
  • Girard’s Unorthodoxy: Historical Christianity
  • Girard’s Unorthodoxy: Apocalyptic Ambivalence

Modernity

  • Introduction
  • Modernity as Rupture
  • Modernity as Continuity
  • Metaphor of the Rocket
  • The Force of Love
  • Theatre
  • Hypocrisy
  • The Force of Truth
  • The Epistemology of Love
  • The Church of Science
  • The Blindspots of Science
  • The Force of Innovation
  • Fashion
  • An Ephemeral Triumph

Katechon

  • Introduction
  • Violence in Modernity
  • Mimetic Contagion in Modernity
  • Scapegoating in Modernity
  • Divinization and Institutionalization in Modernity
  • The Katechon of Law
  • The Monopoly Over Violence
  • The Price of Equality
  • Kinetic and Potential Violence
  • Prestige, Catharsis, and Violence
  • The Logic of Retribution and the Logic of Guilt
  • The Katechon of Capitalism
  • Capitalism and Violence
  • Incendiary Global Trade
  • The Katechon of War
  • The Gentleman’s War
  • Napoleon and Total War
  • The Bomb
  • The Case Against Political Action
  • Conversion
  • Holderlin and the Case for Withdrawal
  • The End