Science and the Person: A Mimetic Critique of Science and Philosophy

Scientism - the materialist faith in science - assaults and attempts to bury the person.Meanwhile, René Girard's mimetic theory places the person at the center of human desire, which is not after objects but after transcendent being. That being can only be modelled in someone possessing it, and it can only be pursued by imitation of that person. The theory aligns with the Christian narrative of the Fall and the Incarnation, which also turns on the imitation of transcendental persons: Satan, or Christ.Yet science has neglected the centrality of mimesis, and now scientism is hostile to the idea of it. The blindness traces to the ancient philosophy's turning away from archaic mimetic violence and through the modern scientistic leviathan swallowing the person as an ontological category. The denial of the person, Divine and human, has become a problem of utmost importance.