Psychopolitics: Conversations with Trevor Cribben Merrill

Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture (SVMC)

by Jean-Michel Oughourlian, Trevor Cribben Merrill (Translator)

For thousands of years, political leaders have unified communities by aligning them against common enemies. However, today more than ever, the search for “common” enemies results in anything but unanimity. Scapegoats like Saddam Hussein, for example, led to a stark polarization in the United States. Renowned neuropsychiatrist and psychologist Jean-Michel Oughourlian proposes that the only authentic enemy is the one responsible for both everyday frustrations and global dangers, such as climate change—ourselves. Oughourlian, who pioneered an “interdividual” psychology with René Girard, reveals how all people are bound together in a dynamic, contingent process of imitation, and shows that the same patterns of irrational mimetic desire that bring individuals together and push them apart also explain the behavior of nations.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Psychology

110 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2010

Reviews

[Philip Hoskinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Random and constant obsession/worship over Barrack Obama (why is that in there?).

No meat, just pseudo-intellectual elitism with little substance and mostly google-search style anecdotes.

[Andrew Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author extends his fine analysis of mimetic desire in individuals (actually in couples or other small groups) in "The Genesis of Desire" to the social matrix of nations states in some interesting ways. I was troubled at first by his bringing in Carl Schmitt & his notorious dictum that a head of state must bring the people together by focusing on a designated enemy, but Oughourlian turned this principle into a plea for heads of state to have the wisdom to designate the enemy as that which is inside each one of us, that which within each of us must be conquered. See my blog "Imaginary Visions of True Peace" at http://bit.ly/Tqbeqw for my of my thoughts on mimetic desire & spirituality.

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oughurlian, niegdyś współpracownik Rene Girarda rozwija koncepcje pasji mimetycznej aplikując ją do interpretacji polityki, analizy bieżących wydarzeń i wyzwań, jak terroryzm i zagrożenie ekologiczne. Żyjemy w czasach apokaliptycznych, kontynuuje myśl Girarda z książki "Achever Clausevitz". Apokalipsy może uniknąć tylko zerwanie mimetycznej logiki, napędzającej przemoc do ekstremum.

[Brook S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livre clair et stimulant sur la politique et les acteurs politiques. Quelques longueurs au chapitre 5 mais l'ouvrage se lit facilement.