Metaphysical Desire in Girard and Plato
Comparative and Continental Philosophy 2 (2):197-209 (2011)
| Abstract | In Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, René Girard interprets a phenomenon he dubs “metaphysical desire” in which “metaphysical” signifies objects of attraction that are not physical things but rather intangible bi-products of mimetic entanglement—such as prestige or fame or social status. These “metaphysical objects” fuel the sometimes frenzied rivalry between the actors in their grip. Desire in the mimetic theory is always subject to mediation, and Girard distinguishes two modes of mediation: external and internal. In external mediation, the model stands outside the field of play of the imitator; in such cases there can be imitation but not the mutually amplified rivalry that leads to violence and scapegoating. In internal mediation, however, the model/imitators become antagonists. In Girard’s exposition, this difference between mediators provides a first litmus test of violent potential. But Girard’s dichotomy is limited to types of mediation, and another dichotomy is possible, one that distinguishes between types of metaphysical objects: those that are essentially sharable and those inherently not so. This extension of Girard’s mimetic theory can potentially cast great light on Plato’s dialogues. My essay will argue both that Plato understood the double-bind of mimetic entanglement and that his “forms” (at least in the ethical/political realm) can best be understood as metaphysical objects of the sharable kind. My points of reference will be primarily Plato’s Phaedrus and Book IX of the Republic (with pointers to Aristotle’s analysis of philia in Book VIII of the Nicomachean Ethics) | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,653 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesPaisley Livingston (1994). What is Mimetic Desire? Philosophical Psychology 7 (3):291 – 305.
Neil Ormerod (forthcoming). Desire and the Origins of Culture: Lonergan and Girard in Conversation. Heythrop Journal.
Wolfgang Palaver (2013). René Girard's Mimetic Theory. Michigan State University Press.
Marie Cabaud Meaney (2010). Simone Weil and René Girard. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (3):565-587.
Paolo Diego Bubbio (2008). Review of Chris Fleming, Rene Girard: Violence and Mimesis. [REVIEW] Australian Religious Studies Review 21 (1):96-97.
Paolo Diego Bubbio (2007). Literary Aesthetics and Knowledge in René Girard’s Mimetic Theory. Literature and Aesthetics 17 (1):35-50.
Gene Fendt (2010). Plato's Mimetic Art. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 84:239-252.
Christopher A. Fox (2007). Sacrificial Pasts and Messianic Futures: Religion as a Political Prospect in René Girard and Giorgio Agamben. Philosophy and Social Criticism 33 (5):563-595.
Sergio Manghi (2006). Traps for Sacrifice: Bateson's Schizophrenic and Girard's Scapegoat. World Futures 62 (8):561 – 575.
Robert M. Doran (2007). Lonergan and Girard on Sacralization and Desacralization. Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 63 (4):1171 - 1201.
C. J. Rowe (2007). Plato and the Art of Philosophical Writing. Cambridge University Press.
Kay Stockholder (1995). Models of Desire: René Girard and the Psychology of Mimesis Paisley Livingston Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. Xx + 209 Pp. [REVIEW] Dialogue 34 (04):863-.
Tushar Irani (2013). Reason and Value in Plato. Philosophy and Literature 36 (2):378-390.
William Blake Tyrrell (2012). The Sacrifice of Socrates: Athens, Plato, Girard. Michigan State University Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-03-17Total downloads18 ( #67,474 of 548,983 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,327 of 548,983 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
