“Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires.” — René Girard.

Girard believes that humans are governed not by intrinsic personal preferences, but aspirational “models,” towards which we unconsciously orient our behavior. In Girard’s framework, desire is formed from the balance of three positions. There is a subject (the person who wants something) and an object (the thing they want). But most compelling is

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