flâneur

What is Mimetic Desire?

lukeburgis.com · 2,736 words · saved by 1 readers

An introduction to René Girard's theory of mimetic desire, by the author of "Wanting", Luke Burgis. Here's why people want what they want.

What is Mimetic Desire? Nearly everyone (unconsciously) assumes there’s a straight line between them and the things they want. >> I wake up one day and “suddenly” decide that I want to run a marathon—amazingly, all of my friends had a similar realization when they hit their mid-thirties, too. >>I get the brilliant idea that Substack is objectively the best publishing platform for my long-form essay writing, based on all the “data”—right around the time that everyone else and their mother seems to be arriving at the same conclusion. >> I decide to get a dog during Covid because, well,…

related reading