Cain's Act: The Origins of Hate
From one of Italy’s most renowned philosophers and psychoanalysts, an urgent and stirring reflection on violence, morality, and our relationship with the Other

What lies at the foundation of human history and society? According to Massimo Recalcati, it is not love for one’s neighbor, as preached by Jesus in the Gospels, but the brutality, jealousy, and violence depicted in the story of Cain and Abel.

As timely as it is brilliant, this essay examines Cain’s murderous act through the lens of psychoanalysis, showing how delusions of self-sufficiency and individual perfection lie at the deepest roots of fear and violence in our societies.

True completeness can only be achieved through others—not despite them. This, argues Recalcati, is the lesson of Cain, one that resonates powerfully in our time.

“Recalcati explores the most fundamental of questions—for Cain, Abel, and every human being: can we believe in love?”—La Stampa

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Cain's Act: The Origins of Hate
From one of Italy’s most renowned philosophers and psychoanalysts, an urgent and stirring reflection on violence, morality, and our relationship with the Other

What lies at the foundation of human history and society? According to Massimo Recalcati, it is not love for one’s neighbor, as preached by Jesus in the Gospels, but the brutality, jealousy, and violence depicted in the story of Cain and Abel.

As timely as it is brilliant, this essay examines Cain’s murderous act through the lens of psychoanalysis, showing how delusions of self-sufficiency and individual perfection lie at the deepest roots of fear and violence in our societies.

True completeness can only be achieved through others—not despite them. This, argues Recalcati, is the lesson of Cain, one that resonates powerfully in our time.

“Recalcati explores the most fundamental of questions—for Cain, Abel, and every human being: can we believe in love?”—La Stampa

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Cain's Act: The Origins of Hate

Cain's Act: The Origins of Hate

Cain's Act: The Origins of Hate

Cain's Act: The Origins of Hate

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Overview

From one of Italy’s most renowned philosophers and psychoanalysts, an urgent and stirring reflection on violence, morality, and our relationship with the Other

What lies at the foundation of human history and society? According to Massimo Recalcati, it is not love for one’s neighbor, as preached by Jesus in the Gospels, but the brutality, jealousy, and violence depicted in the story of Cain and Abel.

As timely as it is brilliant, this essay examines Cain’s murderous act through the lens of psychoanalysis, showing how delusions of self-sufficiency and individual perfection lie at the deepest roots of fear and violence in our societies.

True completeness can only be achieved through others—not despite them. This, argues Recalcati, is the lesson of Cain, one that resonates powerfully in our time.

“Recalcati explores the most fundamental of questions—for Cain, Abel, and every human being: can we believe in love?”—La Stampa


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781609458157
Publisher: Europa Editions, Incorporated
Publication date: 12/06/2022
Pages: 112
Product dimensions: 4.75(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Massimo Recalcati is a psychoanalyst and author who teaches at the universities of Pavia and Verona. His numerous books have been translated in several languages. His latest book to appear in English was The Night in Gethsemane (Europa, 2020). He lives and works in Milan.


Will Schutt is the author of Westerly (the Yale Series of Younger Poets) and translator, most recently, of Carlo and Renzo Piano’s Atlantis: A Journey in Search of Beauty (Europa, 2020), Andrea Marcolongo’s The Ingenious Language (Europa, 2019) and Starting from Scratch (Europa, 2022), and My Life, I Lapped It Up: Selected Poems of Edoardo Sanguineti.

Table of Contents

Introduction 13

In the Beginning Was Cain 23

Creation 29

Breaking the Law 35

Becoming God: The Promise of the Jealous Serpent 39

Nakedness Exposed 47

God's Law 51

The Second Transgression: Violence and Envy 55

The Intruder: Cain and Narcissus 63

God's Choice 71

The Fascination of Hatred 77

Brotherhood, Mourning, and Responsibility 85

Cain's Legacy 93

Notes 99

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