Civilization progresses by replacing imitative learning with rational domination

Evidence

Imitation, he argued, was one of the primary means of learning during early childhood. Subsequent socialization, however, taught the child to forego imitation in favor of rational, goal-directed behavior. A phylogenetic correlate of this ontogenetic pattern was one of the central patterns of the Enlightenment. Western “civilization” began with mimesis, but ultimately transcended it. “Conscious adaptation and eventually domination replace the var ious forms of mimesis. The progress of science is the theoretical manifestation of this change: the formula supplants the image, the calculating machine the ritual dances. To adapt oneself means to make oneself like the world of objects for the sake of self-preservation.” — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 810

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Frankfurt School’s concept of mimesis as the developmental basis for Enlightenment’s turn to rational domination.
• XREF: connects to: A rationality geared to domination shapes how we construe the Other — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 464; Rational self-preservation conquers nature only by imitating nature’s own rigidity — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 63; Civilization’s foundational elements are being digitized and governed by intelligent algorithms — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 575

Broader Connections

• A rationality geared to domination shapes how we construe the Other #expands (0.82) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 464
• Rational self-preservation conquers nature only by imitating nature’s own rigidity #qualifies (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 63