Key insights from
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
By Luke Burgis
Audio available
11 minute read
Published Jun 1, 2021
What you'll learn
As a devoted reader of literature, philosophy, and religious studies, Luke Burgis channels his unique background into a work on one of human nature’s most elusive tendencies. With the insights of the French historian, philosopher, and thinker extraordinaire René Girard, Burgis tackles the puzzle of desire and develops a response that’s encouraging, illuminating, and altogether startling.
Key insights
- • What you'll learn
- 1 René Girard’s “mimetic theory” argues that people are much more similar than they may consciously realize.
- 2 Your wants may be misleading—their “metaphysical” aims are often unattainable.
- 3 In large measures, “mimetic desire” corrodes culture and creates gruesome circumstances to correct it.
- 4 Empathy is a powerful and revelatory societal remedy.
- 5 It takes two to tango—and to desire.
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