The Genesis of Desire (Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture) [Paperback]

Jean-Michel Oughourlian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2009

We seem to be abandoning the codes that told previous generations who they should love. But now that many of us are free to choose whoever we want, nothing is less certain. The proliferation of divorces and separations reveal a dynamic we would rather not see: others sometimes reject us as passionately as we are attracted to them.
     Our desire makes us sick. The throes of rivalry are at the heart of our attraction to one another. This is the central thesis of Jean-Michel Oughourlian's The Genesis of Desire, where the war of the sexes is finally given a scientific explanation. The discovery of mirror neurons corroborates his ideas, clarifying the phenomena of empathy and the mechanisms of violent reciprocity.
     How can a couple be saved when they have declared war on one another? By helping them realize that desire originates not in the self but in the other. There are strategies that can help, which Dr. Oughourlian has prescribed successfully to his patients. This work, alternating between case studies and more theoretical statements, convincingly defends the possibility that breakups need not be permanent.
 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jean-Michel Oughourlian is Professor of Clinical Psychopathology at the University of Paris. He is a collaborator with René Girard and Guy Lefort on the research that is the basis of Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World.

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Michigan State University Press (December 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870138766
• ISBN-13: 978-0870138768
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent development on girardian mimetic theory, September 18, 2010

By 

M. Legare (Quebec) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Genesis of Desire (Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture) (Paperback)

I read this book in french. I see it as the best systematisation of the girardian thesis on mimetic desire. The book deals a bit about man and woman relations, but first of all about human in general. In a more recent book (Psychopolitique), Oughourlian says that the mechanism which controls relations between countries are similar to those which control relations between human beings. Highly recommanded. A must for all students of the mimetic theory, and for all students in philosophy, theology and psychology.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Genesis of Desire, December 24, 2011

By 

Sally K. Severino (New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Genesis of Desire (Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture) (Paperback)

Psychiatrist Jean-Michel Oughourlian takes social critic René Girard's mimetic theory of human motivation and develops a clinical approach to relational problems. The purpose of his "mimetic psychotherapy" is to free people who are enslaved to mimetic rivalry so that they can live in the freedom of mimetic desire.

"Mimetic" means imitation. Neuroscientific research is confirming that human beings are innately endowed to imitate others. Girard set forth the theory that every desire we have is copied from that of another and that rivalry is connected with it. Oughourlian takes Girard's theory and focuses his therapy on desire that is misdirected into rivalry instead of love. In Oughourlian's words: "I have always thought that desire is the heart and the energy of the relation to the other, the first movement that carries us toward life. My [forty] years of research and clinical observation have convinced me that it is indeed desire that humanizes us, that impels us to unite with each other, to associate with each other, to assemble into groups, and also, as we will see, to resemble each other. It forms us in proportion as it animates us and arouses our thoughts and feelings. Desire leads us to seek out the company of others, their approval, their friendship, their support, and their recognition. But this can also be accompanied by rivalry and hatred; it can arouse both love and violence. Desire can be our greatest ally but also our worst enemy, driving us to wish for what will destroy us, to pursue what will cause us suffering, while we remain unable to understand it or figure out why it is happening" (p. 11).

Not only does Oughourlian describe Girard's theory, he eruditely applies it to an understanding of what he considers "the subtlest and most perspicacious of psychological texts"--the Biblical story of the Creation and the Fall. He then presents neuroscientific findings that substantiate Girard's theory of desire. He finishes with a clinical analysis of rivalry and how to approach people suffering from it. He calls his approach: mimetic psychotherapy.

Whether or not you agree with Girard's mimetic theory of human motivation, Oughourlian's journey of discovery from the time the met Girard in 1971 is fascinating. His ideas--derived from Girard's theory--are thought provoking and challenging. His treatment approach is worth considering.

The book is small--only 174 pages. It is not a quick read. Limit yourself just a few pages a day in order to fully digest the gourmet treat that Oughourlian has prepared for his readers.