1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910815578303321

Titolo

How we became human : mimetic theory and the science of evolutionary origins / / edited by Pierpaolo Antonello and Paul Gifford

Pubbl/distr/stampa

East Lansing : , : Michigan State University Press, , [2015]

©2015

ISBN

1-62895-233-4

1-60917-461-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (406 p.)

Collana

Studies in violence, mimesis, and culture

Disciplina

192.200398474

Soggetti

Social evolution

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Coevolution and mimesis / William H. Durham -- Genes and mimesis : structural patterns in Darwinism and mimetic theory / Paul Dumouchel -- Maladaptation, counterintuitiveness and symbolism : the challenge of mimetic theory to evolutionary thinking / Pierpaolo Antonello -- Convergence between mimetic theory and imitation research / Scott Garrels -- The deepest principle of life : neurobiology and the psychology of desire / William B. Hurlbut -- The three Rs : retaliation, revenge, and (especially) redirected aggression / David P. Barash -- Violent origins : mimetic rivalry in Darwinian evolution / Melvin Konner -- Mechanisms of internal cohesion : scapegoating and parochial altruism / Zoey Reeve -- A mediatory theory of hominization / Giuseppe Fornari -- Animal scapegoating at Çatalhöyük / Rene Girard -- Self-transcendence and tangled hierarchies in Çatalhöyük / Jean-Pierre Dupuy -- Rethinking the Neolithic revolution : symbolism and sacrifice at Göbekli Tepe / Paul Gifford and Pierpaolo Antonello -- Intrinsic or situated religiousness : a Girardian solution / Warren S. Brown, James Van Slyke, and Scott Garrels -- Homo religiosus in mimetic perspective : an evolutionary dialogue / Paul Gifford.

Sommario/riassunto

From his groundbreaking Violence and the Sacred and Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World, René Girard's mimetic theory is presented as elucidating "the origins of culture." He posits that archaic



religion (or "the sacred"), particularly in its dynamics of sacrifice and ritual, is a neglected and major key to unlocking the enigma of "how we became human." French philosopher of science Michel Serres states that Girard's theory provides a Darwinian theory of culture because it "proposes a dynamic, shows an evolution and gives a universal explanation." This major claim has, however, re