The world of advertising is founded on a mechanism of desire: we want to buy something because it is portrayed as desired by others. But the advertisement works only if it flatters us with the lie that this desire is somehow our autonomous creation. We do not want to be copycats; we flatter ourselves by thinking that the origin of our desire to buy the product came out of our own personal choice.
In this forum, which took place in December 2010, we considered the problem of whether this is an illusion that we construct our own identity. Is desire socially constructed in a dark process of which we have some dim awareness, but yet still coloured with many more hues of self-deception?
Christopher Morrissey, the speaker, is an assistant professor of philosophy at Redeemer Pacific College.
This forum was sponsored by the SFU Seniors Program and SFU Seniors Lifelong Learner’s Society. To find out more about liberal arts courses and events at SFU Continuing Studies, visit
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This was the best lesson I fount about about the history of human desire so far. Thank you!
From a biosemiotic and cognitive-evolutionary perspective (Terrence Deacon, Thomas Sebeok), early humans already had a Primary Modeling System (PMS)—a non-verbal system for interpreting signs and modeling reality.
Before speech, humans already communicated through gestures, facial expressions, and body language.
Mimetic desire existed within this pre-verbal semiotic system, influencing social behaviors long before the first word was spoken.