Second volume of the Homo Mimeticus series to advance the emerging transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies After the linguistic and the affective turns, the new materialist and the performative turns, the cognitive and the posthuman turns, it is now time to re-turn to the ancient, yet also modern and still contemporary realization that humans are mimetic creatures. In this second installment of the Homo Mimeticus series, international scholars working in philosophy, literary theory, classics, cultural studies, sociology, political theory, and the neurosciences engage creatively with the theory developed by Nidesh Lawtoo in Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation to further the transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies. Agonistic critical engagements with precursors like Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Bataille, Irigaray and Girard, involving contributions by leading experts of imitation such as Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, William E. Connolly, Henry Staten and Vittorio Gallese among many others, reveal the urgency to rethink mimesis beyond realism. From imitation to identification, mimicry to affective contagion, techne to simulation, mirror neurons to biomimicry, Homo Mimeticus casts a shadow—but also a light—on the present and future, from social media to the Anthropocene. After the linguistic and the affective turns, the new materialist and the performative turns, the cognitive and the posthuman turns, it is now time to re-turn to the ancient, yet also modern and still contemporary realization that humans are mimetic creatures. In this second installment of the Homo Mimeticus series, international scholars working in philosophy, literary theory, classics, cultural studies, sociology, political theory, and the neurosciences engage creatively with the theory developed by Nidesh Lawtoo in 'Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation' to further the transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies. Agonistic critical engagements with precursors like Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Bataille, Irigaray and Girard, involving contributions by leading experts of imitation such as Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, William E. Connolly, Henry Staten and Vittorio Gallese among many others, reveal the urgency to rethink mimesis beyond realism. From imitation to identification, mimicry to affective contagion, techne to simulation, mirror neurons to biomimicry, Homo Mimeticus casts a shadow—but also a light—on the present and future, from social media to the Anthropocene. Introduction: Mapping Mimetic Studies Nidesh Lawtoo and Marina Garcia-Granero Prelude: The Discus and the Bow: Homer, Machiavelli, and the Grandissimi Esempli Nidesh Lawtoo PART 1 — RE-FRAMINGS OF CLASSICAL MIMESIS Chapter 1: Plato on Facebook Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen Chapter 2: Techne vs. Mimesis in Plato’s Republic : What Socrates Really Says Against Homer Henry Staten Chapter 3: Coercion and Mimesis in Plato: Compelling Someone to Change their Nature Carlos Carvalhar Chapter 4: Mimetic Resistance Teresa Casas Hernández Chapter 5: Behind Plato’s Shadows and Today’s Media Monsters Mark Pizzato PART 2 — THEORETICAL RE-TURNS TO HOMO MIMETICUS Chapter 6: Nietzsche’s Nihilism and Mimetic Studies Marina Garcia-Granero Chapter 7: Essential Violence and René Girard’s Mimetic Theory William A. Johnsen Chapter 8: Bataille on Mimetic Heterology Nidesh Lawtoo Chapter 9: A New Logic of Pathos : The Anti-Oedipal Unconscious in Hysterical Mimesis María del Carmen Molina Barea Chapter 10: Exhibition/Exposition: Irigaray and Lacoue- Labarthe on the Theaters of Mimesis Niki Hadikoesoemo PART 3 — NEW MIMETIC STUDIES FROM AESTHETICS TO BIOMIMICRY Chapter 11: Negative Empathy in Fiction: Mimesis, Contagion, Catharsis Carmen Bonasera Chapter 12: Fernando Pessoa and the ([P]Re)Birth of Homo Mimeticus Kieran Keohane and Carmen Kuhling Chapter 13: Literature, Pedagogy, and the Power of Mimesis : On Teaching Maylis de Kerangal’s The Heart Evelyne Ender Chapter 14: The Biomimicry Revolution: Contributions to Mimetic Studies Henry Dicks Chapter 15: Arks at Sea and Arcs of Time William E. Connolly Coda. Beyond Brain and Body : A Dialogue with Vittorio Gallese Vittorio Gallese and Nidesh Lawtoo Notes on Contributors