Mimetic Theory and Hermeneutic Communism

The paper investigates to what extent Vattimo’s and Zabala’s Hermeneutic Communism (2011), with its non-violent anti-capitalist stance combined with an emphasis on the interpretative nature of truth, can be compatible with René Girard’s mimetic theory. To do thus, I first explore the debate about the political implications of Girard’s mimetic theory, and then Vattimo’s and Zabala’s political theory. I argue that the current global financial crisis can be regarded as the inevitable consequence of “perfect capitalism”, i.e., a capitalism without constraints that shows its intrinsically mimetic nature. I also argue that, once it is clarified that Vattimo’s and Zabala’s hermeneutics advocates perspectivism rather than relativism, their political project is not incompatible with mimetic theory, and that the two theories can be fruitfully complement each other.