Abstract:
We are at a moment in history where the mimetic system of attraction and repulsion, which René Girard considers the foundation of all pathologies of resentment, has reached the point of undifferentiation, both in culture and in an individual sense of agency. Describing the “explosion” associated with the “formation of organized collectives,” Jurij Lotman locates it on the axis of shame and fear (identity and defense functions). We have lost social and cultural reference points due to mass indoctrination promoting the contradiction: equality and individualism at the same time. The basic figures causing the implosion of mimetism are the figure of an egalitarian society, the opposing figure of the expert, and the figure of the victim demanding protection.
Keywords:
mimetism, anxiety, fear, resentment, war, sacrifice, victim
How to cite:
Doda-Wyszyńska, Agnieszka. “The Implosion of Mimetism: Population Management through Anxiety Generation.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 9, no. 1 (2025): 114-133. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2025.0007.
Author:
Agnieszka Doda-Wyszyńska
Institute of Cultural Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
89 Szamarzewskiego Street, 60-568 Poznań, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4726-5669
adod@amu.edu.pl
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