Mimesis

Mimesis (/maɪˈmiːsəs/; Ancient Greek: μίμησις (mīmēsis), from μιμεῖσθαι (mīmeisthai), "to imitate," from μῖμος (mimos), "imitator, actor") is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the presentation of the self.

In ancient Greece, mimesis was an idea that governed the creation of works of art, in particular, with correspondence to the physical world understood as a model for beauty, truth, and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis, or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its use has changed and been reinterpreted many times since then.

One of the best-known modern studies of mimesis, understood as a form of realism in literature, is Erich Auerbach's Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, which opens with a famous comparison between the way the world is represented in Homer's Odyssey and the way it appears in the Bible. From these two seminal Western texts, Auerbach builds the foundation for a unified theory of representation that spans the entire history of Western literature, including the Modernist novels being written at the time Auerbach began his study. In art history, "mimesis", "realism" and "naturalism" are used, often interchangeably, as terms for the accurate, even "illusionistic", representation of the visual appearance of things.

Mimicry

In evolutionary biology, mimicry is a similarity of one species to another that protects one or both. In the case of prey species, it is a class of antipredator adaptation. This similarity can be in appearance, behaviour, sound or scent. Mimics occur in the same areas as their models.

Mimicry occurs when a group of organisms, the mimics, evolve to share perceived characteristics with another group, the models. The evolution is driven by the selective action of a signal-receiver or dupe. Birds, for example, use sight to identify palatable insects (the mimics), whilst avoiding the noxious models.

The model is usually another species, except in cases of automimicry. The deceived signal-receiver is typically another organism, such as the common predator of two species. As an interaction, mimicry is in most cases advantageous to the mimic and harmful to the receiver, but may increase, reduce or have no effect on the fitness of the model depending on the situation. The model may be hard to identify: for example, eye spots may not resemble any specific organism's eyes, and camouflage often cannot be attributed to a particular model.

Mimesis (mathematics)

In mathematics, mimesis is the quality of a numerical method which imitates some properties of the continuum problem. The goal of numerical analysis is to approximate the continuum, so instead of solving a partial differential equation one aims to solve a discrete version of the continuum problem. Properties of the continuum problem commonly imitated by numerical methods are conservation laws, solution symmetries, and fundamental identities and theorems of vector and tensor calculus like the divergence theorem. Both finite difference or finite element method can be mimetic; it depends on the properties that the method has.

For example, a mixed finite element method applied to Darcy flows strictly conserves the mass of the flowing fluid.

The term geometric integration denotes the same philosophy.

References

Mimesis (disambiguation)

Mimesis is a philosophical concept.

Mimesis may also refer to:

Mimetic may refer to the Mimetic Muscles see Facial muscles.

Mimesis (magazine)

Mimesis is a quarterly literary magazine based in Norwich that deals predominantly with poetry. The magazine was started in 2007. Issues appear in January, April, July and November. The journal stands out for the number of pages filled purely by poems. An interview with a well-known poet is also featured in each issue. A small number of greyscale artworks appear alongside the writing.

References

External links

Mimesis (album)

Mimesis, released on April 23, 2008 on Spinefarm, is the second album by the Finnish alternative rock band End of You. You Deserve More is the only single. This album includes Goldeneye's cover by Tina Turner, from the soundtrack of GoldenEye.

Track listing

Singles

Videos

Credits