The Elementary Forms of
Religious Life
A presentation by Tyler Anderson and Jared Wright
Introduction
• Sociology as a positivist science
• Understanding the fundamental characteristics of religion
• Durkheim is trying to take an objective view of religious belief which can be
applied to all religions
“If we admit that the crude cults of the Australian tribes can
help us understand Christianity, for example, is that not
supposing that this latter religion proceeds from the same
mentality as the former, that it is made up of the same
superstitions and rests upon the same errors?” (p. 2)
Introduction (cont.)
• Durkheim’s reasons for using primitive religion as a unit of study
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To “resolve an institution to its constituent elements” in order to understand the
components
To better understand what is primary and secondary
To better understand more complex religions
“What we want to do is find a means of discerning the ever-present causes upon which
the most essential forms of religious thought and practice depend” (p. 8)
Defining religion
• Religion as “eminently social”
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Durkheim rejects that religion has to have a concept of the “supernatural”
Also rejects that religion requires a god or “spiritual beings”
• “Thus there are rites without gods, and even rites from which gods are derived.
All religious powers do not emanate from divine personalities, and there are
relations of cult which have other object than uniting man to a deity. Religion is
more than the idea of gods or spirits, and consequently cannot be defined
exclusively in relation to these latter.” (p. 35)
Defining Religion (cont.)
• Two categories make up religion
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Belief
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Classify all things into the sacred and the profane
Rituals
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“determined modes of actions”
Defining Religion (cont.)
• The Sacred and the Profane
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Profane: the mundane; ordinary
Sacred: those things which man holds superior to himself
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Not only represented as divine beings but to multiple degrees
Defining Religion (cont.)
• The sacred and profane realms are diametrically opposed
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Beings can pass from one realm to the other, but this requires a “veritable
metamorphosis
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Initiation rites
Monasticism
Asceticism
Defining Religion (cont.)
• Magic vs. religion
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Religion is a social phenomenon whereas magic is inherently individual
• The Church
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Religions are characterized by their social quality
The Church is a place where people can come together and practice religious beliefs
“In all of history, we do not find a single religion without a Church” p, 44)
According to Durkheim, “there is no Church of magic”
Definition of Religion
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“A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say,
things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral
community called a Church, all those that adhere to them” (p. 47)
Animism v. Naturism
• Two major perspectives attempting to explain how religions start
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Animism – “religion of spirits”
Naturism - religion bound in perception
Animism
• The soul has a “second self” that manifests in dreams but remains
connected to the body
• Upon death, the soul turns into a spirit no longer bound to its profane form
• People assign animate properties to inanimate objects
Durkheim’s problems with Animism
• Does not explain why the soul is grounded to the individual
• Does not account for other possible explanations for dreams
• Does not answer why people would choose to explain dreams as opposed to
other puzzles
Naturism
• What is “natural” is consistent, so things like fire that aren’t permanent must
be explained
• Language helps define these forces
• Nature is given human qualities
Problems with Naturism
• This explanation offers no sense of order
• Neglects the social element
Totemism and clans
• Clans united by strong bonds of kinship that aren’t necessarily ancestral
• This kinship is represented by the totem
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A “coat-of-arms” for a clan
Elevates the bond from the profane to the sacred
The Origins of Totemic Beliefs
• What gives the totem its sacred qualities?
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Effervescence
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Feelings of passion developed through social interaction
Produce “sacred” feelings in the individual that must be explained
Totems are a way to represent this feeling in the material world
The Idea of the Soul, Spirits,
and Gods:
1.
2.
Every known contemporary society has an idea of the soul.
Evolved from the tribal Aborigine belief that the soul of a newborn
was the reincarnation of dead ancestors of the clan, which are
conceived of as animal or plant spirits with superhuman abilities, thus
making them sacred.
The Idea of the Soul, Spirits, and
Gods:
3. Aborigine belief developed into modern concepts such as immortality and
personality.
A. Immortality (303).
B. “civilizing hero” - “individual totemism” - ”international deity” (315).
The Principal of Ritual
Attitudes:
Negative Cults:
1. The sacred and profane realms of life cannot coexist in the
same time or place.
2. Negative cult: “taboos” & “degree of sacredness” (338-340).
The Principal of Ritual
Attitudes:
Negative Cults:
3. Negative rites purify the individual, allowing him access to
the sacred positive cult (355-356).
4. “contagiousness of the sacred” (356-361).
The Principal of Ritual
Attitudes:
Positive Cults:
1.
Intichiuma (368-377).
2. Sacrificial rites of Intichiuma (380-385).
3. “Mutual Interdependence” (385-392).
The Principal of Ritual
Attitudes:
Positive Cults:
3 Other Types of Positive Rites:
1. Imitative (“like produces like”)
A. scientific law of causality (412).
B. moral and religious ritual as opposed to “sympathetic
magic.”
2. Representative
A. Mythology is a moral and cosmological system, not a
magical one (420).
B. Origin of aesthetics in modern religions (424-428).
3. Piacular
Conclusion:
1. Religion is more about action than thought.
2. Religious beliefs are based on real experiences just
like scientific experiments.
Conclusion:
3. The group is more significant than the religion.
4. Scientific thought is a product of, and more perfect
version of, religious thought.
Conclusion:
5. Concepts – the origin of all logical/scientific thought.
6. Concepts represent nature. Concepts are made
possible by society but also can express social
phenomenon because society is a part of nature.
Conclusion:
7. Individual experience is subjective, but through
society we create universal concepts which bring us
closer to the truth.
8. We are both individual and social; we cannot exist
without society any more than society can exist
without us.