A scarcity of focal things: reply to Pieter Tijmes

There appear to be problems with the origin, operation, and remedy of mimet ic desire. It conflicts with evolution, requires several tacit qualificatio ns, and allows for a trivial cure. Its spirit, or at any rate Pieter Tijmes 's, is agreeable, however. It marks the crucial break between premodern and modem cultures, it discloses the spiritual bleakness of contemporary cultu re, and it hints at a redemptive solution. There is a need, however, to be more explicit and recognize that it is a scarcity of focal things, not of c ommodities, that leaves our deepest desires empty and that in the absence o f focal things we cannot truly be of service to people. (C) 1999 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.