Mirror Neurons, Theatrical Mirrors and the Honor Code

Abstract

This article relates the discovery of certain brain cells known as "mirror neurons" that help explain the biological basis of a pre-conceptual, pre-linguistic grounding of human cognition, to Lacanian theory of the formation of human subjectivity in the space of the other. In thus explains the intersubjective nature of honor that Lope describes in Los comendadores de Córdoba as "aquélla que consiste en otro". Mirror neurons theory shows how spectators are moved, as Henry Sullivan has described, and why honor is therefore such an effective theme in Baroque theater.

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