The Mimetic Brain

Description

The discovery of mirror neurons in the 1990s led to an explosion of research and debate about the imitative capacities of the human brain. Some herald a paradigm shift on the order of DNA in biology, while others remain skeptical. In this revolutionary volume, Jean- Michel Oughourlian shows how the hypotheses of René Girard can be combined with the insights of neuroscientists to shed new light on the “mimetic brain”. Offering up clinical studies and a complete reevaluation of classical psychiatry, Oughourlian explores the interaction among reason, emotions, and imitation and reveals that rivalry - the blind spot in contemporary neuroscientific understandings of imitation - is a misunderstood driving force behind mental illness. Oughourlian’s analyses shake the very foundations of psychiatry as we know it and open up new avenues for both theoretical research and clinical practice. Contents Author’s Note Preface Introduction Part 1. Towards a Mimetic Anthropology Chapter 1. Contagious Desire Chapter 2. The Precursors Chapter 3. Some Contemporaries Part 2. A Psychiatry of the Three Brains Chapter 4. Interdividual Psychology Chapter 5. Psychological Time and the Nodal Points N and N' Chapter 6. The Three Brains Chapter 7. The Three Possibilities of the Interdividual Rapport Chapter 8. Classical Nosology Part 3. An Essay in Mimetic Nosology Chapter 9. Figures of the Other in Normal Experience Chapter 10. Figures of the Other in Neurotic Experience Chapter 11. Figures of the Other in Psychotic Experience Chapter 12. Mood Disorders Chapter 13. Diseases of Desire Part 4. The Dialectic of the Rational, Emotional, and Mimetic Brains Chapter 14. The Mimetic Mechanism Chapter 15. Some Clinical Studies Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index