Ätiologie der Zivilisation

In researching the history of the family, the motivation of violence and the origins of civilization, the role of sacrifice emerges as the focal point of the multi-layered topics. The volume shows how it has constituted the human community since the earliest history and, through internalization in the unconscious sense of guilt, how it forms the underlying focus of social life. From primitive cult to the power games of political rule to the Holy Scriptures and the sublime cultivations in religion, science and art, it pervades civilization. This connection is reflected in the concept of aetiology, the development of which is presented here by means of a critical analysis of language.