Emile Durkheim - Overview

Emile Durkheim- founder of modern sociology.

Background

  • Academic Qualifications:

    • Durkheim received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a PhD in Philosophy.

    • Studied Philosophy at the École Normale.

    • Taught Philosophy in Secondary Schools from 1882 to 1887.

    • Became a lecturer at the University of Bordeaux in 1887, and later a full Professor.

    • In 1902, became a Professor at the University of Paris, significantly expanding his influence.

Personal Life

  • Durkheim was a Jewish Frenchman.

  • Born in the contested region of Alsace Lorraine (Eastern France).

  • Identified as a thoughtful theist, specifically of the Deist variety from the Enlightenment era.

Philosophical Views

  • Theism:

    • Focuses on the distinction between God and the World.

    • The term "theism" derives from the Greek word "theos," meaning "God".

    • The World is viewed as a creation of God, dependent on God for existence.

    • Contrastingly, God is not dependent on the World for existence.

  • Deism:

    • Concept of a "clockmaker" God who created the world but does not interfere with it afterward.

    • This view suggests that the created world operates independently like a wound-up clock.

    • Many Enlightenment thinkers gravitated towards Deism, indicating a belief in a non-intervening creator.

Metaphysics

  • Defined as a branch of Philosophy that studies the nature of existence.

    • Key areas of focus include:

      • What exists: substances, bundles, universals.

      • Nature of existing things: matter, ideas, atoms, quarks, form-and-matter.

  • Types of Immaterial Objects:

    • Universals (repeated properties), e.g., numbers, qualities.

    • Relations (properties between two objects).

    • Boundaries (edges of objects).

    • States of affairs or manifolds (complex wholes).

    • Natural wholes, e.g., substances.

Concepts of Wholes and Parts

  • Relations: Properties that are not material but indicative of connections, e.g., "next to" and "taller than".

  • Wholes: Defined as entities that possess properties that are not identical to their constituent parts.

    • For example, an apple as a whole can roll, but its slices cannot.

  • Natural Whole: Durkheim’s idea that society is a natural whole comprised of individuals, similar to a family's structure. Even if one member dies, the family persists.

Durkheim’s View of Sociology

  • Sociology is positioned as a discipline distinct from both Psychology and Philosophy.

  • Nature of Social Facts:

    • Durkheim defines Social Facts as the phenomena he studies, which lie between Psychology (individual) and Philosophy (ideas).

    • He aims to establish Sociology as its own legitimate subject, persuading the University of Paris to found the first modern Sociology Department.

Distinction of Social Facts

  • From Psychology:

    • In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Psychology focused solely on internal processes such as beliefs and desires.

    • Social Facts, in contrast, are external and social phenomena impacting societies.

  • From Philosophy:

    • The era regarded Philosophy as dealing with ideas rather than real-world phenomena.

    • For example, philosophical assertions like "all bachelors are unmarried males" are analytic, while things like laws and social structures are concrete realities.

Characteristics of Social Facts

  • Social Facts are neither internal ideas nor purely abstract concepts; instead, they are real external conditions that shape society.

  • This positions Social Facts as situated between the realms of Psychology and Philosophy.

Summary of Social Facts

  • Durkheim acknowledges both non-material and material elements:

    • Immaterial Social Facts:

      • Include language, tradition, customs, beliefs, and ethics.

    • Material Social Facts:

      • Represent formal institutions such as Ministries and Departments, reflecting societal structures beyond individual thoughts or ideas.

End Goal of Society

  • Durkheim asserts that the ultimate goal of society is happiness.

    • Echoing Aristotle, he discusses that happiness serves as the telos (end goal) of social existence.

    • Analogy:

      • The people represent the hands, the social facts symbolize the cue stick, and happiness is akin to the pocket being aimed for.

Objective and Subjective Aspects of Happiness

  • Objective Happiness: Defined by the external constituents required for happiness, such as health, wealth, family, and friendships.

  • Subjective Happiness: Comprises the individual’s felt joy and satisfaction arising from the presence of objective happiness factors.

Future Discussion

  • The second part of the presentation is set to examine how Durkheim applies Social Facts to the study of suicide as a test case in his sociological approach.


Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) is recognized as the founder of modern sociology. He was a Jewish Frenchman, born in Alsace Lorraine, and identified as a thoughtful Deist. Academically, he held a BA and PhD in Philosophy, taught philosophy, and later became a full Professor at the University of Bordeaux and then the University of Paris. He studied "Social Facts" and aimed to establish sociology as its own legitimate academic discipline.

Durkheim is important to sociology because he is considered its founder. He successfully established sociology as a distinct field of study, culminating in the creation of the first modern Sociology Department at the University of Paris. His core contribution was defining "Social Facts" as the unique subject matter for sociological inquiry.

He argued for sociology's existence by distinguishing it from both Psychology and Philosophy. In his view, Psychology focused on internal processes (beliefs, desires), while Philosophy dealt with abstract ideas or analytic truths. Social Facts, in contrast, are external, social phenomena that are concrete realities affecting societies, positioning them distinctly between the individual focus of psychology and the abstract realm of philosophy.

The provided notes do not contain information explaining why Durkheim was not a naturalist.

For Durkheim, there are two kinds of Social Facts:

  1. Immaterial Social Facts: These include non-material aspects such as language, tradition, customs, beliefs, and ethics. They represent shared understandings and cultural norms.

  2. Material Social Facts: These are formal institutions and organizational structures, like Ministries and Departments, reflecting concrete societal arrangements beyond individual thoughts or ideas.