Giving Life, Giving Death: Psychoanalysis, Anthropology, Philosophy (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture)

Although women alone have the ability to bring children into the world, modern Western thought tends to discount this female prerogative. In__Giving Life, Giving Death,__Lucien Scubla argues that structural anthropology sees women as objects of exchange that facilitate alliance-building rather than as vectors of continuity between generations. Examining the work of Lévi-Strauss, Freud, and Girard, as well as ethnographic and clinical data,__Giving Life, Giving Death__seeks to explain why, in constructing their master theories, our greatest thinkers have consistently marginalized the cultural and biological fact of maternity. In the spirit of Freud’s Totem and Taboo, Scubla constructs an anthropology that posits a common source for family and religion. His wide-ranging study explores how rituals unite violence and the sacred and intertwine the giving of death and the giving of life. Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Freud and the Oedipus Legend Chapter 2. Procreation and Headhunting: Fatherhood among the Marind Chapter 3. The Guardians of Dogma: Jones, Malinowski, and the Maternal Uncle Chapter 4. The Atom of Kinship, or the Absent Mother Chapter 5. Incest of the Second Type: Impasses and Issues Chapter 6. The Brother-Sister Relationship and the Principle of Male Dominance Chapter 7. Conceptualizing Difference or Dissolving Hierarchy?: From Asymmetry to Parity Chapter 8. Testart's Law: Division of Labor and Sexual Identity. Chapter 9. Nature and Culture: The Return of the Sophists in Western ThoughtChapter 10. Reik, Guardian of Dogma: Couvade, Initiation Rites, and the Oedipus Complex Chapter 11. Hierarchy of the Sexes and Hierarchy of Knowledge, or Plato among the Baruya Chapter 12. Ethnology and Psychology in Róheim and Devereux: Identity, Homology, or Complementarity? Chapter 13. Should Totem and Taboo Simply Be Forgotten? Chapter 14. Freud, in Spite of Everything Chapter 15. Conceiving and Transmitting Notes Bibliography Index. « Although women alone have the ability to bring children into the world, modern Western thought tends to discount this female prerogative. In Giving Life, Giving Death, Lucien Scubla argues that structural anthropology sees women as objects of exchange that facilitate alliance-building rather than as vectors of continuity between generations. Examining the work of Lévi-Strauss, Freud, and Girard, as well as ethnographic and clinical data, Giving Life, Giving Death seeks to explain why, in constructing their master theories, our greatest thinkers have consistently marginalized the cultural and biological fact of maternity. In the spirit of Freud’s Totem and Taboo, Scubla constructs an anthropology that posits a common source for family and religion. His wide-ranging study explores how rituals unite violence and the sacred and intertwine the giving of death and the giving of life. »-- Résumé de l'éditeur Lucien Scubla ; Translated By M. B. Debevoise. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.