Skip to content

Introduction to Center Study

Center Study branches off from René Girard’s Mimetic Theory and Eric Gans’s Generative Anthropology to create a new discipline grounded in the Originary Hypothesis: the hypothetical origin of humanity in the deferral of violence via representation (language).

The Originary Hypothesis is a source of not just ideas, but companies that sit on the boundary between the capitalist — even ultra-capitalist — and the no longer quite capitalist order: betting, prediction markets, employment agencies, new currencies, investment inquiries; but also a space where well-being, learning, and inquiry are ends in themselves.

Center Study, and those working on it and in it, are producing something like a linguistic “reserve currency” — creating new language, concepts, and terms that work as seed phrases for anyone interested in starting and joining companies that secure and strengthen civilization in the twilight of Anglo modernity.

New, or skeptical? The FAQ takes the common questions and objections head-on — is it falsifiable, how does it differ from Girard and GA, and more.FAQ →

If you read one thing

GABlog · Adam Katz

The Discourse of the Center

“We are beings bound to the center.” The clearest single-post statement of the core claim.

…or the four essays to begin with →
01Origin and HypothesisAnthropomorphicsThe founding move, stated plainly: how the aborted gesture becomes the first sign.02The Use of a CenterAnthropomorphicsWhat a center is — and why every social scene has one.03The Prospects of the HypothesisSubstackWhat the hypothesis can actually do, from individual desire to geopolitics.04There Is No Economy but Only the Debt to the CenterAnthropoeticsThe framework applied end to end: money read as the debt to the center.

Or just ask

Put any question to the whole corpus — you get a synthesized answer grounded in direct quotes.

What is the originary hypothesis?How is Center Study different from René Girard?What does “the center” actually mean?Ask anything →

Or follow an interest

Language & the signAI & dataMoney & valueSovereignty & successionReligion & the sacredResentment

Everything else

The full Introduction

The long-form, in-depth read — the whole picture in one essay.

The lineage

Girard → Gans → Katz, told in their own words.

Lecture series

Five short introductory lectures, in order.

Reading paths

Curated sequences for specific topics and fields.

Concepts & Glossary

The vocabulary, defined with passages from the texts.

Browse the archive

All 1,900+ texts — blog, essays, the book, threads.

StartSearchGlossaryAsk AIBrowse