This is the first study of guilt from a wide variety of perspectives: psychology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, six major religions, four key moral philosophers, and the law. Katchadourian explores the ways in which guilt functions within individual lives and intimate relationships, looking at behaviors that typically induce guilt in both historical and modern contexts. He examines how the capacity for moral judgments develops within individuals and through evolutionary processes. He then turns to the socio-cultural aspects of guilt and addresses society's...

Spanning seven decades, this memoir is an account of the life of Herant Katchadourian on three continents: The Middle East, Europe, and the United States. While the memoir is highly distinctive, the issues the author focuses on have many features that are common with other people's lives, such as the role of chance and the reconstruction of past events in the light of the present. The book is the account of a fascinating life that is not only interesting to read but instructive by placing the various stages and facets of life in their historical and cultural contexts.