Emile Durkheim
By: Whitney Walck
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10 Facts
2) Durkheim viewed his sociology as the science of the genesis and functioning of institutions, with institutions being all of the beliefs and modes of conduct instituted by the collectivity.
3) Durkheim was not the first thinker to attempt to make sociology a science.
4) Durkheim’s theory fails to account for the inherent abilities of categorical or logical thought.
5) Durkheim reveals himself to be a cultural relativist, arguing that each culture has a network of self-referential logic and concepts that creates truths.
6)During Durkheim’s life, his thinking about religion changed in important ways. Early in his life, as in Division, he argued that human societies could exist on a secular basis without religion.
7)According to Durkheim, religion is the product of human activity, not divine intervention.
8) Durkheim’s moral philosophy was unfortunately denied its culmination by his untimely death in 1917.
9) At this, Durkheim was keen to distinguish two elements of morality, both equally important to moral behavior.
10)An incredibly important but often overlooked part of Durkheim’s philosophy is his declaration of the death of the gods of European society, and what this means for the future of Western civilization.