Eric Gans is Professor of French at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous books on generative anthropology are The Origin of Language (1981), The End of Culture (1985), Science and Faith (1990), and Originary Thinking (Stanford, 1993).

• 1. Introduction: why generative anthropology; Part I . Paradoxical Thinking: 2. Mimetic paradox and the event of human origin; 3. The necessity of paradox; 4. The two varieties of truth; 5. On irony; 6. Plato and the birth of conceptual thought; 7. Originary being, originary thinking; 8. The origins of signification; 9. Two psychoanalytic categories: Eros and the unconscious; Part II. Sparagmos and Resentment: 10. Originary violence; 11. The 'Jewish question'; 12. Originary and victimary rhetoric; 13. The end of culture; Notes; Index.

"Gans once again achieves in this book a level of explanatory coherence and a richness of ideas rarely seen today. In this extremely interesting and complex work, an event in itself, he proves himself a thinker of the first magnitude."—Tobin Siebers, University of Michigan

Eric Gans is Professor of French at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous books on generative anthropology are The Origin of Language (1981), The End of Culture (1985), Science and Faith (1990), and Originary Thinking (Stanford, 1993).

• 1. Introduction: why generative anthropology; Part I . Paradoxical Thinking: 2. Mimetic paradox and the event of human origin; 3. The necessity of paradox; 4. The two varieties of truth; 5. On irony; 6. Plato and the birth of conceptual thought; 7. Originary being, originary thinking; 8. The origins of signification; 9. Two psychoanalytic categories: Eros and the unconscious; Part II. Sparagmos and Resentment: 10. Originary violence; 11. The 'Jewish question'; 12. Originary and victimary rhetoric; 13. The end of culture; Notes; Index.

"Gans once again achieves in this book a level of explanatory coherence and a richness of ideas rarely seen today. In this extremely interesting and complex work, an event in itself, he proves himself a thinker of the first magnitude."—Tobin Siebers, University of Michigan

Eric Gans is Professor of French at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous books on generative anthropology are The Origin of Language (1981), The End of Culture (1985), Science and Faith (1990), and Originary Thinking (Stanford, 1993).

• 1. Introduction: why generative anthropology; Part I . Paradoxical Thinking: 2. Mimetic paradox and the event of human origin; 3. The necessity of paradox; 4. The two varieties of truth; 5. On irony; 6. Plato and the birth of conceptual thought; 7. Originary being, originary thinking; 8. The origins of signification; 9. Two psychoanalytic categories: Eros and the unconscious; Part II. Sparagmos and Resentment: 10. Originary violence; 11. The 'Jewish question'; 12. Originary and victimary rhetoric; 13. The end of culture; Notes; Index.

"Gans once again achieves in this book a level of explanatory coherence and a richness of ideas rarely seen today. In this extremely interesting and complex work, an event in itself, he proves himself a thinker of the first magnitude."—Tobin Siebers, University of Michigan