Böcker i Breakthroughs in Mimetic Theory-serien

Explores the bridge between the physical and the human - a bridge essentially designed by scholastic theory, clarified by mimetic theory, and built by quantum theory - and the path it opens to that metaphysical understanding for which philosophers of modern science have been striving.

Drawing on both modern masterpieces and iconic works of contemporary pop culture, Per Bjornar Grande sketches a Girardian phenomenology of desire, one that sheds new light on the frustrating and repetitive nature of human relations in a world of vanishing taboos.

Fascism tends to be relegated to a dark chapter of European history, but what if new forms of fascism are currently returning to the forefront of the contemporary political scene? In this book, Nidesh Lawtoo furthers his previous diagnostic of crowd behavior to account for the growing shadow cast by authoritarian leaders who have taken possession of the digital age. In the process, Lawtoo joins forces with various mimetic theorists to show that (new) fascism reloads the old problematics of mimetic contagion, community, and myth via new media that have the disquieting power to turn politics itself into a fiction.

Rene Girard shows that all desires are contagious-and the desire to be thin is no exception. In this compelling new book, Girard ties the anorexia epidemic to what he calls mimetic desire: a desire imitated from a model. Girard has long argued that, far from being spontaneous, our most intimate desires are copied from what we see around us. In a culture obsessed with thinness, the rise of eating disorders should be no surprise. When everyone is trying to slim down, Girard asks, how can we convince anorexic patients to have a healthy outlook on eating? Mixing theoretical sophistication with irreverent common sense, Girard denounces a "e;culture of anorexia"e; and takes apart the competitive impulse that fuels the game of conspicuous non-consumption. He shows that showing off a slim physique is not enough-the real aim is to be skinnier than one's rivals. In the race to lose the most weight, the winners are bound to be thinner and thinner. Taken to extremes, this tendency to escalation can only lead to tragic results. Featuring a foreword by neuropsychiatrist Jean-Michel Oughourlian and an introductory essay by anthropologist Mark R. Anspach, the volume concludes with an illuminating conversation between Rene Girard, Mark R. Anspach, and Laurence Tacou.

This book is a response to Friedrich Nietzsche's provocative question: How much and how does ressentiment condition our daily life? During the twentieth century we witnessed veritable eruptions of this insidious emotion, and we are still witnesses of its proliferation at various levels of society. This book aims to explore, according to Rene Girard's mimetic theory, the anthropological and social assumptions that make up ressentiment and to investigate its genesis. The analysis of ressentiment shows that this emotion evolves from mimetic desire: it is an affective experience that people have when a rival denies them opportunities or valuable resources (including status) that they consider to be socially accessible. It is a specific figure of mimetic desire that is typical of contemporary society, where the equality that is proclaimed at the level of values contrasts with striking inequalities of power and access to material resources. This dichotomy generates increasing tension between highly competitive and egalitarian mimetic desires and growing social inequalities. The ressentiment is ambiguous, and its ambiguity is that of mimetic desire itself, which we cannot dismiss from our lives. In that it provides occasions of conflict and baseness, ressentiment can fuel violence, discord, and injustice, but it also can open opportunities for growth and justice, and for inventing institutions that are better adapted to the transformations of our contemporary society.

Never before translated in English, this 1973 discussion between Rene Girard (1923-2015) and other prominent scholars represents one of the most significant breakthroughs in mimetic theory. The conversation was an opportunity for Girard to debate with his interlocutors the theories he expounded in Violence and the Sacred.

In this rich exploration of Rene Girard's insights, his French editor and longtime collaborator Benoit Chantre brings Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans into dialogue with both Proust and Girard in order to push to its logical endpoint the idea of a back-and-forth movement from chaos to order.