Scubla Lucien - Giving life, giving death psychoanalysis, anthropology, philosophy

STUDIES IN VIOLENCE, MIMESIS, AND CULTURE

SERIES EDITOR

William A. Johnsen

The Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture Series examines issues related to the nexus of violence and religion in the genesis and maintenance of culture. It furthers the agenda of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, an international association that draws inspiration from Ren Girards mimetic hypothesis on the relationship between violence and religion, elaborated in a stunning series of books he has written over the last forty years. Readers interested in this area of research can also look to the associations journal, Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture.

ADVISORY BOARD

Ren Girard, Stanford University

Andrew McKenna, Loyola University of Chicago

Raymund Schwager, University of Innsbruck

James Williams, Syracuse University

EDITORIAL BOARD

Rebecca Adams, Independent Scholar

Jeremiah L. Alberg, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan

Mark Anspach, cole Polytechnique, Paris

Pierpaolo Antonello, University of Cambridge

Ann Astell, University of Notre Dame

Cesreo Bandera, University of North Carolina

Maria Stella Barberi, Universit di Messina

Alexei Bodrov, St. Andrews Biblical Theological Institute, Moscow

Joo Cezar de Castro Rocha, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Benot Chantre, LAssociation Recherches Mimtiques

Diana Culbertson, Kent State University

Paul Dumouchel, Ritsumeikan University

Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Stanford University, cole Polytechnique

Giuseppe Fornari, Universit degli studi di Bergamo

Eric Gans, University of California, Los Angeles

Sandor Goodhart, Purdue University

Robert Hamerton-Kelly, Stanford University

Hans Jensen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Shaw University

Michael Kirwan, SJ, Heythrop College, University of London

Paisley Livingston, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Charles Mabee, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Detroit

Jzef Niewiadomski, Universitt Innsbruck

Wolfgang Palaver, Universitt Innsbruck

ngel Jorge Barahona Plaza, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

Martha Reineke, University of Northern Iowa

Tobin Siebers, University of Michigan

Thee Smith, Emory University

Mark Wallace, Swarthmore College

Eugene Webb, University of Washington

Copyright 2016 by Michigan State University Press; Donner la vie, donner la mort: Psychanalyse, anthropologie, philosophie copyright 2014 ditions Le Bord de Leau

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

Michigan State University Press
East Lansing, Michigan 48823-5245

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Scubla, Lucien, author.
Title: Giving life, giving death : psychoanalysis, anthropology, philosophy / Lucien Scubla ; translated by M. B. DeBevoise.
Other titles: Donner la vie, donner la mort. English
Description: East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, 2016. | Series: Studies in violence, mimesis, and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015033655| ISBN 9781611862089 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781609174941 (pdf) | ISBN 9781628952674 (epub) | ISBN 9781628962673 (kindle)
Subjects: LCSH: Psychoanalysis and anthropology. | Philosophical anthropology.
Classification: LCC GN508 .S252313 2016 | DDC 128dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033655

Book design by Charlie Sharp, Sharp Des!gns, Lansing, MI
Cover design by David Drummond, Salamander Design, www.salamanderhill.com.
Cover artwork is The Tempest by Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco), ca. 1510, 31" 29" oil on canvas, located at Accademia, Venice.

Michigan State University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative and is committed to developing and encouraging ecologically responsible publishing practices. For more information about the Green Press Initiative and the use of recycled paper in book publishing, please visit www.greenpressinitiative.org.

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Slaves of death, men envy and fear women, mistresses of life. Such is the primitive and primordial truth that a serious analysis of certain myths and rituals reveals. Myths, by reversing the real order, attempt to conceive of the worlds destiny as male destiny; rituals, the stage on which men act out their victory, are used to ward off, to compensate for the all-too-obvious truth that this destiny is female.

PIERRE CLASTRES

The most important things are done through tubes. First proofs: the generative organs, the writing pen, and [the] rifle.

GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG

There is perhaps today no more firmly credited prejudice than this: that one knows what morality really consists in.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE