Varieties of Mimesis

The traditional restriction of the study of Mimesis to Aesthetics has neglected its pervasiveness. For example, the camouflaging adaptation of an organism to its environment, from insects that blend in with tree bark, to humans who do as the Romans do, when visiting Rome, is Mimetic. A young child's adopting its parents' habits and gestures is Mimetic, as is a student's learning from a teacher, or an adult's following a role model. Adjusting the content and manner of one's speech to a listener is Mimetic, as is dressing according to the conventions of a social context. Now, while all of these can be classified as public, external Mimetes, others are internal and private. The primary quality in the mind of a Lockeian perceiver replicates a property of a physical object. In other theories, imagination--from the same root as 'imitation'--abstraction, representation, ideation, and reflection are all replicative cognitive processes. Sympathy imitates the feelings of another. So, Mimesis is to be found in phenomena of interest to Biology, Psychology, Education, Semiology, Epistemology, and Ethics. Plainly, the traditional specialized treatment of it in Aesthetics is hardly exhaustive.