Homo Mimeticus II

Second volume in the Homo Mimeticus mini-series, which advances the emerging transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies

After the linguistic and the affective turns, the new materialist and the performative turns, the cognitive and the posthuman turns, it is now time to re-turn to the ancient, yet also modern and still contemporary realization that humans are mimetic creatures. In this second installment of the Homo Mimeticus series, international scholars working in philosophy, literary theory, classics, cultural studies, sociology, political theory, and the neurosciences engage creatively with Nidesh Lawtoo's Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation to further the transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies.

Agonistic critical engagements with precursors like Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Bataille, Irigaray and Girard, involving contributions by leading international thinkers such as Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, William E. Connolly, Henry Staten and Vittorio Gallese among many others, reveal the urgency to rethink mimesis beyond realism. From imitation to identification, mimicry to affective contagion, techne to simulation, mirror neurons to biomimicry, homo mimeticus casts a shadow—but also a light—on the present and future, from social media to the Anthropocene.

Watch the recordings of the 'Homo Mimeticus II' book launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNKlTex1SaY

"Homo Mimeticus II" was written by Nidesh Lawtoo, Marina Garcia-Granero, Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, Henry Staten, Carlos Carvalhar, Teresa Casas Hernández, Mark Pizzato, Kieran Keohane, Carmen Kuhling, William Johnsen, Niki Hadikoesoemo, María del Carmen Molina Barea, Carmen Bonasera, Evelyne Ender, Henry Dicks, William E. Connolly and Vittorio Gallese.

Nidesh Lawtoo is a philosopher and cultural critic, professor of Modern European Literature and Culture at Leiden University.

Marina Garcia-Granero is an assistant professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Valencia.

Yes, "Homo Mimeticus II" is published Open Access. It is available under a BY-NC-ND license.

Publication of "Homo Mimeticus II" was funded by ERC
KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access
.

Introduction: Mapping Mimetic Studies
Nidesh Lawtoo and Marina Garcia-Granero

Prelude: The Discus and the Bow: Homer, Machiavelli, and the Grandissimi Esempli
Nidesh Lawtoo

PART 1 — RE-FRAMINGS OF CLASSICAL MIMESIS

Chapter 1: Plato on Facebook
Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen

Chapter 2: Techne vs. Mimesis in Plato’s Republic : What Socrates Really Says Against Homer
Henry Staten

Chapter 3: Coercion and Mimesis in Plato: Compelling Someone to Change their Nature
Carlos Carvalhar

Chapter 4: Mimetic Resistance
Teresa Casas Hernández

Chapter 5: Behind Plato’s Shadows and Today’s Media Monsters
Mark Pizzato

PART 2 — THEORETICAL RE-TURNS TO HOMO MIMETICUS

Chapter 6: Nietzsche’s Nihilism and Mimetic Studies
Marina Garcia-Granero

Chapter 7: Essential Violence and René Girard’s Mimetic Theory
William A. Johnsen

Chapter 8: Bataille on Mimetic Heterology
Nidesh Lawtoo

Chapter 9: A New Logic of Pathos : The Anti-Oedipal Unconscious in Hysterical Mimesis
María del Carmen Molina Barea

Chapter 10: Exhibition/Exposition: Irigaray and Lacoue- Labarthe on the Theaters of Mimesis
Niki Hadikoesoemo

PART 3 — NEW MIMETIC STUDIES FROM AESTHETICS TO BIOMIMICRY

Chapter 11: Negative Empathy in Fiction: Mimesis, Contagion, Catharsis
Carmen Bonasera

Chapter 12: Fernando Pessoa and the ([P]Re)Birth of Homo Mimeticus
Kieran Keohane and Carmen Kuhling

Chapter 13: Literature, Pedagogy, and the Power of Mimesis : On Teaching Maylis de Kerangal’s The Heart
Evelyne Ender

Chapter 14: The Biomimicry Revolution: Contributions to Mimetic Studies
Henry Dicks

Chapter 15: Arks at Sea and Arcs of Time
William E. Connolly

Coda. Beyond Brain and Body : A Dialogue with Vittorio Gallese
Vittorio Gallese and Nidesh Lawtoo

Notes on Contributors