Emile Durkheim
Emile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheimwas a French sociologist, social psychologist and philosopher. He formally established the academic discipline and—with Karl Marx and Max Weber—is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology...
ProfessionTeacher
Date of Birth15 April 1858
law unnecessary sufficient
When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary; when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.
crime
We do not condemn it because it is a crime, but it is a crime because we condemn it.
suicide suicidal giving
Each victim of suicide gives his act a personal stamp which expresses his temperament, the special conditions in which he is involved, and which, consequently, cannot be explained by the social and general causes of the phenomenon.
suicide sadness people
Melancholy suicide. —This is connected with a general state of extreme depression and exaggerated sadness, causing the patient no longer to realize sanely the bonds which connect him with people and things about him. Pleasures no longer attract;
religious reality representation
Religious representations are collective representations which express collective realities.
cheerful morality found
Too cheerful a morality is a loose morality; it is appropriate only to decadent peoples and is found only among them.
feelings variables limits
It is not human nature which can assign the variable limits necessary to our needs. They are thus unlimited so far as they depend on the individual alone. Irrespective of any external regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.
feelings capacity force
Irrespective of any external, regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.
religious loss men
Man seeks to learn, and man kills himself because of the loss of cohesion in his religious society; he does not kill himself because of his learning. It is certainly not the learning he acquires that disorganizes religion; but the desire for knowledge wakens because religion becomes disorganized.
firsts facts fundamentals
The first and most fundamental rule is: Consider social facts as things.
names long doe
One cannot long remain so absorbed in contemplation of emptiness without being increasingly attracted to it. In vain one bestows on it the name of infinity; this does not change its nature. When one feels such pleasure in non-existence, one's inclination can be completely satisfied only by completely ceasing to exist.
division social source
Social life comes from a double source, the likeness of consciences and the division of social labour.
religious two fundamentals
Religious phenomena are naturally arranged in two fundamental categories: beliefs and rites. The first are states of opinion, and consist in representations; the second are determined modes of action.
dream wall reality
From top to bottom of the ladder, greed is aroused without knowing where to find ultimate foothold. Nothing can calm it, since its goal is far beyond all it can attain. Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned.