About This Course

Peering into our prehistoric past, attempting to understand the problems our ancestors faced and how they went about solving them, is obviously a very complicated task. Significantly, human sacrifice seems to be a universal phenomenon and the first sign of a new civilization. Archaeological evidence shows that most of these early communities were religious or at least ritualistic. Some form of sacrificial system was at the heart of primitive communities. Why?

In this course we will trace the processes of desire from its personal mimetic origins to its social implications. Mimetic realism contemplates the very origins of human civilizations. Twisted desire gives birth to conflict. Conflicts within communities often lead to the single victim mechanism. These ancient origins of the practice of sacrifice are the beginning of ritual and religion, which in turn is the foundation for some of the first civilizations. However, being actors within this cycle of violence means that humans have been mostly blind to the processes that formed and sustained our societies.