2017
First Published
4.20
Average Rating
134
Number of Pages
Part of Series
How do humans stop fighting? Where do the gods of myth come from? What does it mean to go mad? Mark R. Anspach tackles these and other conundrums as he draws on ethnography, literature, psychotherapy, and the theory of René Girard to explore some of the fundamental mechanisms of human interaction. Likening gift exchange to vengeance in reverse, the first part of the book outlines a fresh approach to reciprocity, while the second part traces the emergence of transcendence in collective myths and individual delusions. From the peacemaking rituals of prestate societies to the paradoxical structure of consciousness, Anspach takes the reader on an intellectual journey that begins with the problem of how to deceive violence and ends with the riddle of how one can deceive oneself.
Avg Rating
4.20
Number of Ratings
10
5 STARS
50%
4 STARS
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3 STARS
10%
2 STARS
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1 STARS
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Author
Mark R. Anspach
Author · 1 books
Dr. Mark Rogin Anspach (Ph.D., French, Stanford University; Ph.D., Anthropology, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris) is an anthropologist and social theorist who is affiliated with the LIAS research team at the Institut Marcel Mauss, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
