Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One. Questions of Methodology and Hermeneutics: Mimetic Theory, Darwinism, and Cultural Evolution
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)
Part Two. Imitation, Desire, Victimization: Examining Mimetic Theory on the Evidence
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)
Part Three. Violent Origins Revisited
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)
Part Four. Interpreting Archaeological Data: Mimetic Readings of Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe
Animal Scapegoating at Çatalhöyük (René 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)
Part Five. The Evolutionary Hermeneutics of Homo Religiosus
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)
About the Authors
Index