The Philosophy of Imitation in Focus

Artículo que anuncia el inicio del proyecto de investigación Homo Mimeticuspost-print1 p

Homo Mimeticus

Genealogy of one of the most ancient and influential concepts in western thought: Mimesis Imitation is, perhaps more than ever, constitutive of human originality. Many things have changed since the emergence of an original species called Homo sapiens, but in the digital age humans remain mimetic creatures: from the development of consciousness to education, aesthetics to politics, mirror neurons to brain plasticity, digital simulations to emotional contagion, (new) fascist insurrections to viral contagion, we are unconsciously formed, deformed, and transformed by the all too human tendency to imitate—for both good and ill. Crossing disciplines as diverse as philosophy, aesthetics, and politics, Homo Mimeticus proposes a new theory of one of the most influential concepts in western thought (mimesis) to confront some of the hypermimetic challenges of the present and future. Written in an accessible yet rigorous style, Homo Mimeticus appeals to both a specialized and general readership. It can be used in courses of modern and contemporary philosophy, aesthetics, political theory, literary criticism/theory, media studies, and new mimetic studies. Ebook available in Open Access. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content)

The Plasticity of Mimesis

This article inscribes Catherine Malabou's recent philosophical account of brain plasticity in a genealogy that goes, from Lacoue-Labarthe, back to its mimetic origins in Plato's Republic.Este artículo inscribe el reciente relato filosófico de Catherine Malabou sobre la plasticidad cerebral en una genealogía que se remonta, desde Lacoue-Labarthe, a sus orígenes miméticos en la República de Platón.post-print23 p

Homo Mimeticus

Genealogy of one of the most ancient and influential concepts in western thought: Mimesis Imitation is, perhaps more than ever, constitutive of human originality. Many things have changed since the emergence of an original species called Homo sapiens, but in the digital age humans remain mimetic creatures: from the development of consciousness to education, aesthetics to politics, mirror neurons to brain plasticity, digital simulations to emotional contagion, (new) fascist insurrections to viral contagion, we are unconsciously formed, deformed, and transformed by the all too human tendency to imitate—for both good and ill. Crossing disciplines as diverse as philosophy, aesthetics, and politics, Homo Mimeticus proposes a new theory of one of the most influential concepts in western thought (mimesis) to confront some of the hypermimetic challenges of the present and future. Written in an accessible yet rigorous style, Homo Mimeticus appeals to both a specialized and general readership. It can be used in courses of modern and contemporary philosophy, aesthetics, political theory, literary criticism/theory, media studies, and new mimetic studies. Ebook available in Open Access. This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content)

The Human Chameleon: Zelig, Nietzsche and the Banality of Evil

This article revisits the case of Woody Allen’s mockumentaryZelig(1983) viaFriedrich Nietzsche’s diagnostic of mimicry inThe Gay Science. It argues that thecase of the“human chameleon”remains contemporary for both philosophicaland political reasons. On the philosophical side, I argue that the case ofZelig challenges an autonomous conception of the subject based on rational self-sufficiency (orHomo Sapiens) by proposing a relational conception of the subjectopen to mimetic influences (orhomo mimeticus) that will have to await thediscovery of mirror neurons in the 1990s in order to find an empiricalconfirmation. On the political side, I say thatZeligforegrounds the power ofauthoritarian leaders in the 1930s to cast a spell on both imitative crowds andpublics in terms that provide a mimetic supplement to Hannah Arendt’saccount of the“banality of evil”. The philosophical purchase ofZelig’s cinematicdramatization of a mimetic subject is that it reveals how the“inability tothink”(Hannah Arendt) characteristic of the case of Eichmann rests on unnoticedaffective principles constitutive of the all-too-human penchant for“mimicry”(Nietzsche) the film dramatises. Thus reframed, the human chameleon reflects(on) the dangers of mimetic dispossessions that reached massive proportions inthe past century and continue to cast a shadow on the present century.Este artículo revisa el caso del falso documental de Woody Allen, Zelig (1983), a través del diagnóstico de Friedrich Nietzsche sobre el mimetismo en La Ciencia Gay. Sostiene que el caso del "camaleón humano" sigue siendo contemporáneo por razones tanto filosóficas como políticas. Desde el punto de vista filosófico, sostengo que el caso de Zelig pone en tela de juicio una concepción autónoma del sujeto basada en la autosuficiencia racional (oHomo Sapiens) al proponer una concepción relacional del sujeto abierta a las influencias miméticas (ohomo mimeticus) que tendrá que esperar al descubrimiento de las neuronas espejo en la década de 1990 para encontrar una confirmación empírica. Desde el punto de vista político, digo que Zelig pone en primer plano el poder de los líderes autoritarios de los años 30 para hechizar tanto a las multitudes imitativas como a los públicos, en términos que proporcionan un suplemento mimético al relato de Hannah Arendt sobre la "banalidad del mal". El valor filosófico de la dramatización cinematográfica de Zelig de un sujeto mimético es que revela cómo la "incapacidad de pensar" (Hannah Arendt) característica del caso de Eichmann se basa en principios afectivos inadvertidos que constituyen la inclinación demasiado humana por el "mimetismo" (Nietzsche) que la película dramatiza. Así, el camaleón humano refleja los peligros de los despojos miméticos que alcanzaron proporciones masivas en el siglo pasado y siguen ensombreciendo el presente.post-print24 p

Black Mirrors: Reflecting (on) Hypermimesis

Reflections on mimesis have tended to be restricted to aesthetic fictions in the past century; yet the proliferation of new digital technologies in the present century is currently generating virtual simulations that increasingly blur the line between aesthetic representations and embodied realities. Building on a recent mimetic turn, or re-turn of mimesis in critical theory, this paper focuses on the British sci-fi television series, Black Mirror (2011-2016) to reflect critically on the hypermimetic impact of new digital technologies on the formation and transformation of subjectivity. It argues that emerging forms of digital simulations do not simply set up a realistic mirror to “reality” restricted to aesthetic “representation” (Auerbach 1953); nor are they confined to the disembodied sphere of “hyperreality” that goes beyond the logic of “imitation” (Baudrillard 1981). Rather, the digital simulations reflected in Black Mirror dramatize the performative powers of hyperreal simulations to retroact on reality to form and transform increasingly mimetic subjects. I call this technological process of transformation “hypermimesis” (Lawtoo 2015, 2018), to indicate that it is located at the juncture where hyperreal simulacra and mimetic reflexes meet and reflect on each other.Las reflexiones sobre la mímesis han tendido a restringirse a las ficciones estéticas en el siglo pasado; sin embargo, la proliferación de nuevas tecnologías digitales en el presente siglo está generando actualmente simulaciones virtuales que difuminan cada vez más la línea entre las representaciones estéticas y las realidades encarnadas. Partiendo de un reciente giro mimético, o vuelta a la mímesis en la teoría crítica, este artículo se centra en la serie de televisión británica de ciencia ficción Black Mirror (2011-2016) para reflexionar de forma crítica sobre el impacto hipermimético de las nuevas tecnologías digitales en la formación y transformación de la subjetividad. Sostiene que las formas emergentes de simulaciones digitales no se limitan a establecer un espejo realista de la "realidad" restringido a la "representación" estética (Auerbach 1953); tampoco se limitan a la esfera incorpórea de la "hiperrealidad" que va más allá de la lógica de la "imitación" (Baudrillard 1981). Más bien, las simulaciones digitales reflejadas en Black Mirror dramatizan los poderes performativos de las simulaciones hiperreales para retroceder en la realidad y formar y transformar sujetos cada vez más miméticos. Llamo a este proceso tecnológico de transformación "hipermímesis" (Lawtoo 2015, 2018), para indicar que se sitúa en la coyuntura en la que el simulacro hiperreal y los reflejos miméticos se encuentran y se reflejan mutuamente.post-print24 p

The Homo mimeticus and the need for a mimetic turn. Interview with Nidesh Lawtoo

The present interview with Nidesh Lawtoo (lecturer at the University of Lausanne, Johns Hopkins University and KU Leuven and holder of the ERC project re-titled Homo Mimeticus: Theory and Criticism from 2017 to 2022) wants to highlight the “broad” and “complex” character of mimesis. The guiding idea is that mimesis – understood not simply as a copy or representation of reality but rather as a drive that leads humans to imitate other humans – provides us with a rich, wide-ranging, and paradoxically original perspective to knowing ourselves better. Thus, in a constant confrontation with the Greek roots of the term and the reflections of some modern and contemporary philosophers, the interview intends to clarify the scope and breadth of that mimetic turn proposed by Lawtoo in contemporary aesthetical debate.The present interview with Nidesh Lawtoo (lecturer at the University of Lausanne, Johns Hopkins University and KU Leuven and holder of the ERC project re-titled Homo Mimeticus: Theory and Criticism from 2017 to 2022) wants to highlight the “broad” and “complex” character of mimesis. The guiding idea is that mimesis – understood not simply as a copy or representation of reality but rather as a drive that leads humans to imitate other humans – provides us with a rich, wide-ranging, and paradoxically original perspective to knowing ourselves better. Thus, in a constant confrontation with the Greek roots of the term and the reflections of some modern and contemporary philosophers, the interview intends to clarify the scope and breadth of that mimetic turn proposed by Lawtoo in contemporary aesthetical debate

Il Fantasma dell’Io. La massa e l’inconscio mimetico: The Phantom of the Ego: Modernism and the Mimetic Unconscious

A ghost roams the modern world: "the ghost of the ego" With this sentence, Friedrich Nietzsche offers a diagnosis of the modern self that finds the royal road to the unconscious in mass imitation. In the footsteps of Nietzsche, modernist authors such as Joseph Conrad, DH Lawrence, Georges Bataille - read in dialogue with human sciences such as anthropology and psychoanalysis, research on hypnosis and mass psychology - question themselves about reflected mimetic phenomena that do not they are under the rational control of consciousness and are, in this sense, in-conscious. From identification to affective contagion, passing through sympathy and laughter, violence and magic, hypnosis and suggestion, the mimetic unconscious reveals how modernist authors make our concept of "I" new because they anticipate recent developments in neuroscience. They also offer us an out-of-date mirror to reflect critically on the becoming of our "I" as well as on the power of authoritarian leaders - past and present - to transform the mass subject into a copy or a "ghost of the ego".Un fantasma si aggira per il mondo moderno: "il fantasma dell'io." Con questa frase, Friedrich Nietzsche offre una diagnosi dell'io moderno che trova nell'imitazione di massa la via regia all'inconscio. Sulle orme di Nietzsche, autori modernisti come Joseph Conrad, D. H. Lawrence, Georges Bataille - letti in dialogo con scienze umane come l'antropologia e la psicanalisi, le ricerche sull'ipnosi e la psicologia di massa - si interrogano su fenomeni mimetici riflessi che non sono sotto il controllo razionale della coscienza e che sono, in questo senso, in-consci. Dall'identificazione al contagio affettivo, passando per la simpatia e il riso, la violenza e la magia, l'ipnosi e la suggestione, l'inconscio mimetico rivela come autori modernisti rendono il nostro concetto di "io" nuovo perché anticipano recenti sviluppi nelle neuroscienze. Ci offrono pure uno specchio inattuale per riflettere criticamente sul divenire del nostro "io" così come sul potere dei leader autoritari - passati e presenti - di trasformare il soggetto di massa in una copia o un "fantasma dell'io"

The Dispossession of Character (Review of Omri Moses's Out of Character)

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Violence and the Mimetic Unconscious (Part Two). The Contagious Hypothesis: Plato, Affect, Mirror Neurons

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