Peter Thiel's bookshelf: Resurrection from the Underground

Peter Thiel is a student of French philosopher Rene Girard. Thiel says there's "no better way to think about human irrationality than to read" Girard's Resurrection from the Underground, a "classic study of Dostoevsky." Key insights👇

Girard's core idea: our desires are rooted neither in ourselves nor in the objects we desire, but in a 3rd party "model." We ape other people's desires. When 2 kids are left with a hundred toys in a room, and the 1st kid picks up something, the 2nd kid always wants just that.

Human desire is not rational, but mimetic. Girard analyses Dostoevsky's entire work through this idea. Dostoevsky's novels often explore conflict between "the self and the other," and Girard's mimetic theory of desires throws light on this conflict.

The self admires the other, and imitates his desires. But, now, desiring the same thing, the two are on war path. The model has become the enemy.

The "mimetic rivalry" starts. When the admired other "thwarts our desires," we feel rejected and ashamed. Our loss proves our inferiority, the admiration for the other grows, and the rivalry intensifies.

In a school reunion in Dostoevsky's novel Notes From Underground, the narrator pretends to be indifferent to others but he is also desperate to be noticed. He writes horrid things about this group; then he seeks their approval.

Another time, an "arrogant officer" manhandles our narrator. He's furious, but at the same time, his rival becomes "a fascinating idol with whom he would like to be 'fused.'" Mimetic theory says this is not paradoxical. Once models become rivals, rivals can become models.

Mimetic desire turns our models into "rivals and obstacles" as we desire the same thing as them. Then our "perversely logical" mind starts turning "obstacles into models!" We become obstacle addicts. We are "unable to desire in the absence of an-obstacle-who-is-also-a-model."

Utilitarians say humans rationally desire what's good for them. No, Girard says, we desire what the other desires. Dostoevsky's narrator in Notes knows what is in his "enlightened self interest," but this knowledge has no motivational power. He's stuck in his mimetic rivalries.

What are some big problems with mimetic desires? How to break out of vicious wars with one's models/rivals? Questions addressed and answered in the next memo. 👇👇👇