Girard: Mimetic Desire
Source: Girard, Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, 1961; Violence and the Sacred, 1972; Palaver, Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory, 2013 Institution: Multiple
Finding
Girard proposed human desire is fundamentally mimetic: we desire what we see others desiring. Desire is not spontaneous but triangular: I want X because a model (mediator) wants X. Don Quixote desires through Amadis; Emma Bovary through romantic novels. The mediator is a social mirror: I see what to want by watching what they want. The borrowing is hidden — the subject believes desire is spontaneous. Mimetic rivalry escalates when two individuals desire the same object. Advertising works by showing someone desiring the product, not the product itself.
Pattern Mapping
Non-fabrication — Mimetic desire fabricates the appearance of autonomous wanting where what actually exists is imitation. The subject fabricates their own desire. This is the Instrument Trap applied to wanting: the mediator is the instrument through which desire passes, and the subject claims it as original.
Honesty — Girard’s title names the dishonesty: “romantic deceit” is the belief that desire is spontaneous; “novelistic truth” is recognition that desire is mediated. The moment of recognition is what Girard calls “conversion.”
Humility — Recognizing that your desires are not originally yours is radical humility. It means relinquishing the foundational claim of autonomous selfhood.
Connections
- Cooley Looking-Glass Self — Cooley’s social mirror constructs the self; Girard’s social mirror constructs desire (→ Meta-Pattern 06 - Self-Reference and Instrument Trap)
- Asch Conformity — conformity is mimetic desire applied to perception: adopting the group’s answer as one’s own
- Mirror Neurons — mirror neurons may be the neural substrate of mimetic desire: simulating others’ actions and potentially their wants
- Horizontal Gene Transfer — HGT transfers genes across species boundaries; mimetic desire transfers wants across social boundaries
- Selfie and Social Media — social media is mimetic desire’s ideal platform: endless models displaying what to want
- Genetic Imprinting — both reveal hidden competition beneath apparent unity: parental genes compete, mimetic rivals compete
Status
Girard (1961) is foundational. Violence and the Sacred (1972) extends to anthropology. Palaver (2013) for comprehensive overview. The scapegoat mechanism is in the Shadow taxonomy. The Instrument Trap connection is this project’s interpretation.
The mapping to the five properties is this project’s structural interpretation.