The Elementary Forms of Religious Life

by Durkheim, Émile; Cosman, Carol; Cladis, Mark S.

• ISBN13: 9780192832559
• ISBN10: 0192832557
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim sets himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity. He investigates what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia. For Durkheim, studying Aboriginal religion was a way 'to yield an understanding of the religious nature of man, by showing us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity'. The need and capacity of men and women to relate to one another socially lies at the heart of Durkheim's exploration, in which religion embodies the beliefs that shape our moral universe. The Elementary Forms has been applauded and debated by sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians, and continues to speak to new generations about the intriguing origin and nature of religion and society. This new, lightly abridged edition provides an excellent introduction to Durkheim's ideas.

Author Biography

Carol Cosman has translated works by Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Balzac and Yasmina Reza Mark Cladis is the author of A Communitarian Defense of Liberalim: Emile Durkheim and Contemporary Social Theory (Stanford, 1992) and editor of Durkheim and Foucault: Perspectives on Education and Punishment (1999).

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Note on the Text	xxxvi
Select Bibliography	xxxviii
A Chronology of Emile Durkheim	xl
Map	xlii
THE ELEMENTARY FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE
Introduction	3	(22)
BOOK I: PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS
A Definition of the Religious Phenomenon and of Religion	25	(158)
The Leading Conceptions of Elementary Religion
Animism	47	(16)
The Leading Conceptions of Elementary Religion
Naturism	63	(13)
Totemism as Elementary Religion
Historical Review of the Question. Method of Treating It	76	(11)
BOOK II: ELEMENTARY BELIEFS
Central Totemic Beliefs
The Totem as Name and Emblem	87	(14)
Central Totemic Beliefs
The Totemic Animal and Man	101	(8)
Central Totemic Beliefs
The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Notion of Genus	109	(12)
Central Totemic Beliefs
The Individual Totem and the Sexual Totem	121	(5)
The Origins of These Beliefs
A Critical Examination of the Theories	126	(14)
The Origins of These Beliefs
The Notion of the Totemic Principle or Mana, and the Idea of Force	140	(13)
The Origins of These Beliefs
The Genesis of the Notion of the Totemic Principle or Mana	153	(30)
The Notion of Soul	183	(20)
The Notion of Spirits and Gods	203	(86)
BOOK III: PRINCIPAL RITUAL CONDUCT
The Negative Cult and its Functions
Ascetic Rites	221	(22)
The Positive Cult
The Elements of Sacrifice	243	(18)
The Positive Cult
Mimetic Rites and the Principle of Causality	261	(15)
The Positive Cult
Representative or Commemorative Rites	276	(13)
Piacular Rites and the Ambiguity of the Notion of the Sacred	289	(21)
Conclusion	310	(34)
Appendix: Select List of Anthropologists and Ethnologists who Informed Durkheim's Work	344	(1)
Explanatory Notes	345	(6)
Index	351