One of the big problems with Girard is that "needs" for survival--oxygen, water, food, body temperature--are most certainly not mimetic. I don't need to breathe oxygen just because I saw someone else do it first. These "needs" are on a spectrum--for example, not eating for 3 days may not kill me, but surely I would <i>desire</i> to eat if I did (and not because someone else made eating "cool".) Any desire an infant (not yet capable of observing others) might have in response to pain/pleasure stimulus is not mimetic. Or Hellen Keller whose senses are impaired, etc. So it's a rather flawed premise.