The Homo mimeticus and the need for a mimetic turn.Interview with Nidesh Lawtoo

Abstract

The present interview with Nidesh Lawtoo (lecturer at the University of Lausanne, Johns Hopkins University and KU Leuven and holder of the ERC project re-titled Homo Mimeticus: Theory and Criticismfrom 2017 to 2022) wants to highlight the “broad” and “complex”character of mimesis. The guiding idea is that mimesis –understood not simply as a copy or representation of reality but rather as a drive that leads humans to imitate other humans –provides us with a rich, wide-ranging, and paradoxically original perspective to knowing ourselves better. Thus,ina constant confrontation with the Greek roots of the term and the reflections of some modern and contemporary philosophers, theinterview intends to clarify the scope and breadth of that mimetic turn proposed byLawtoo in contemporary aesthetical debate.