Insights with Rene Girard

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The mimetic theory is first and foremost a theory of religion. It describes the “religious” dimension of interpersonal relations—the idolatry of models or sexual partners—just as it explains the origins of archaic religions and the qualitative difference between these and the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Wolfgang Palaver • René Girard's Mimetic Theory (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture)

Mimetic desire is the idea that people desire something because someone else desires it, or that one person's desire mimics another's . Concept developed by French philosopher René Girard, who observed that people's desires don't come from within, but rather they mimic what other people want.

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Girard expressly praises Sartre’s insistence on man’s “insurmountable” religious nature, in the wake of Nietzsche’s proclamation of the death of God.

Wolfgang Palaver • René Girard's Mimetic Theory (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture)

Not every instance of mimetic behavior, however, results necessarily in conflict. As long as desire is directed at an object that can be shared—learning a language, reading a book, listening to a piece of music, etc.—mimesis poses no problems. As soon as the object of desire can no longer be shared—as with objects of sexual desire, social positions