Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 18 hours ago

---

Mimetic theory is a concept developed and advocated for by René Girard, 20th-century French anthropologist. Mimetic theory’s key insight is that human desire is not an autonomous process, but a collective one. We want things because other people want them.

Make sure to subscribe, hit the like button and don't forget to click the notification bell to get weekly updates youtube.com/user/ameerrosic?sub_confirmation=1


Listen on
Itunes
tiny.cc/fwtvcz
Sticher
tiny.cc/so9mcz
Google Podcast
tiny.cc/dekncz
Spotify
tiny.cc/fxtvcz

Source material

taylorpearson.me/bookreview/mimetic-theory-things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world

reconcilingmyth.wordpress.com/rene-girard/mimetic-theory


"This began as a natural phenomenon: animals and humans learn by imitating other members of their groups, but neither humans nor animals are able to differentiate between good, non-acquisitive mimesis (learning skills from others in your group) from bad, acquisitive mimesis (desiringing objects – money, fame, power, someone else’s mate, etc.

Let us say that there is an object, which a person desires. A second persons sees the 1 first persons desire and imitates it. Now the two are in conflict for the object. The conflict escalates when the two subjects begin to model each other in an ever-intensifying desire. This is called “doubling” because the two are mirroring each other until all differentiation between them breaks down. This conflict then escalates until others are drawn into it–for, as Girard puts it, “if two persons are fighting over the same object, then this object seems more valuable to bystanders” (Girard, Evolution and Conversion, 64). Finally, the object disappears, meaning that the participants in the conflict stop caring about the

object itself and are only focused on their antagonism. Eventually, this erupts into a “mimetic crisis,” where the only “effective form of reconciliation–that would stop this crisis, and save the community from total self-destruction–is the convergence of all collective anger and rage towards a random victim, a scapegoat
Lets take a close look at escape gopating

The Scapegoat Mechanism

As rivals become more and more fascinated with each other, friends and colleagues may be mimetically drawn into the conflict as rival coalitions form. What began as a personal battle may escalate into a battle of all against all, threatening the cohesion and peace of an entire community. One way of solving this problem is to find someone to blame for the conflict that all the rival coalitions can unite against. This unfortunate person may or may not be guilty. All that’s required for the scapegoating solution to work is that his guilt is universally agreed upon and that when he is punished or expelled from the community, he will not be able to retaliate. The proof of his guilt is found in the peace that now returns to the community.

Mimetic theory allows us to see that the peace thus produced is violent, comes at the expense of a victim, and is built upon lies about the guilt of the victim and the innocence of the community. This mechanism functioned at the origins of the human species, when this peace appeared as if by magic and was attributed to a visitation from an ambiguous god who came first as the terrible cause of the conflict but then was revealed to be its cure. Prohibitions emerged to forbid the imitative behaviors which lead to conflict, rituals developed that consist of a well-controlled mime of the redemptive violence against a victim (originally human, later animal and so on), and myths were born as the stories that tell of how we became a people as the result of a visitation from the gods. This method of controlling violence with violence can be found in the rites and myths spread all over our planet and gave rise to human culture."






Follow me

Instagram.com/ameerrosic
facebook.com/AmeerRosic



Blockgeeks YouTube Channel
youtube.com/c/BlockGeeks

My name is Ameer Rosic, and I'm a serial entrepreneur, investor, Marketing Strategist and Blockchain Evangelist


Blockchain Training: bit.ly/2nGhdn0

Blog Ameerrosic.com
Blockgeeks: blockgeeks.com
Facebook Facebook.com/ameerrosic
Twitter Twitter.com/ameerrosic
Instagram Instagram.com/ameerrosic

We Always Thought the Future Would Be Kind of Fun by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: chriszabriskie.com/darkglow
Artist: chriszabriskie.com

#RenéGirard #MimeticTheory