The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Published on 20. April 2023
326 pages
978-93-90852-26-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, published by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912, is a book that analyzes religion as a social phenomenon. Durkheim attributes the development of religion to the emotional security attained through communal living. The Elementary Forms has been applauded and debated by sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians, and continues to speak to new generations about the origin and nature of religion and society. This new, lightly abridged edition provides an excellent introduction to Durkheim's ideas.
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Content
- Intro
- INTRODUCTION SUBJECT OF OUR STUDY: RELIGIOUS SOCIOLOGY AND THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
- BOOK I PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS
- CHAPTER I DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA AND OF RELIGION[25]
- CHAPTER II LEADING CONCEPTIONS OF THE ELEMENTARY RELIGION I.-Animism
- CHAPTER III LEADING CONCEPTIONS OF THE ELEMENTARY RELIGION-continued II.-Naturism
- CHAPTER IV TOTEMISM AS AN ELEMENTARY RELIGION History of the Question.-Method of Treating it
- BOOK II THE ELEMENTARY BELIEFS
- CHAPTER I TOTEMIC BELIEFS The Totem as Name and as Emblem
- CHAPTER II TOTEMIC BELIEFS-continued The Totemic Animal and Man
- CHAPTER III TOTEMIC BELIEFS-continued The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class
- CHAPTER IV TOTEMIC BELIEFS-end The Individual Totem and the Sexual Totem
- CHAPTER V ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS Critical Examination of Preceding Theories
- CHAPTER VI ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS-continued The Notion of the Totemic Principle, or Mana, and the Idea of Force
- CHAPTER VII ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS-end Origin of the Idea of the Totemic Principle or Mana
- CHAPTER VIII THE IDEA OF THE SOUL
- CHAPTER IX THE IDEA OF SPIRITS AND GODS
- BOOK III THE PRINCIPAL RITUAL ATTITUDES
- CHAPTER I THE NEGATIVE CULT AND ITS FUNCTIONS THE ASCETIC RITES
- CHAPTER II THE POSITIVE CULT I.-The Elements of the Sacrifice
- CHAPTER III THE POSITIVE CULT-continued II.-Imitative Rites and the Principle of Causality
- CHAPTER IV THE POSITIVE CULT-continued III.-Representative or Commemorative Rites
- CHAPTER V PIACULAR RITES AND THE AMBIGUITY OF THE NOTION OF SACREDNESS
- CONCLUSION
- INDEX
- FOOTNOTES:
