Émile Durkheim

For many people, distinguishing a field of interest as a science can often be the difference between conjecture and fact, the difference between astrology and astronomy. In the time of sociologist and anthropologist Émile Durkheim, sociology was merely a collection of thought experiments that branched off of philosophy. Durkheim, born a year after the death of positivist Auguste Comte, firmly believed in the division of intellectual fields and their establishment as distinct sciences. The question of what constitutes a science was extremely pertinent at this time, as all matters of thought were shifting from traditional belief to intellectual discovery. In France, the role of the church and traditional ideologies in perspectives of the individual, it’s role in society, and what makes societies different were beginning to wane in favor of more analytical and introspective approaches. Instead of deriving fact from a higher power, it was derived from human logic and observation. This shift in intellectual thought derives primarily from the shift in power in France from an absolute monarchy that was heavily influenced by the catholic church to the state in the form of an empire. The rule of Napoleon and the nostalgia for the Roman Empire lead a sort of intellectual revolution that favored rationality over faith.

Although Durkheim subscribed with the sentiments of the time, he also theorized that religion had an important role in holding society together. What he means by religion is not necessarily institutionalized religion that may come and go with time, but the general ways in which all religions move societies: the sacred and unexplainable, beliefs and practices, and moral community. While religion might not be the most rational way of explaining our world and our societies, it certainly does play a role in the way these societies are formed and held together. In many ways, this theory provides a much needed bridge across the schism forming in France between faith and reason, between church and state. Even today, rational minds might be prejudiced against religion without truly analyzing its impact on us as a society. Often, scientists are seen as and certainly can be unwilling to even touch matters of religion. But Durkheim understood the necessity of viewing religion under a scientific lens in order to better understand one of the most important features of society.