Emile Durkheim Biography (cont.)
Although he stressed the importance of
socialism in philosophy, law, and history, Emile Durkheim faced
opposition from the humanist Faculty of Letters members, who were
somewhat afraid that his distinct explanations of legal and moral
institutions through reference to purely social causes threatened
volition and individual moral duty. Nonetheless, Durkheim did
manage to make friends and allies of some of his colleagues,
particularily with philosophers Octave Hamelin, and Georges Rodier,
who both helped promote Durkheim's rationalist ideas in opposition to
the intuitionism, and mysticism, which were now losing their appeal.
While he was at Bordeaux, Emile Durkheim
lectured on the history and practice of education, in this excerpt
from his 1888 "Course in Sociology: Opening Lecture", he states
"...by becoming more specialized, science comes closer to things which
are themselves specialized. It thus becomes more objective, more
impersonal, and, consequently, accessible to the full range of
individual talents and to all workers of good will.". His social
science courses and public lectures focused of the study of law,
religion, and socialism, and the more specific issues crime, incest,
kinship, totemism, and suicide.
In 1893, Durkheim published his first major
work, "De la division du travail social" (The
Division of Labor in Society), in
which he introduced the concept of "anomie", which described the
breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a
society, meaning that people were no longer expected to abide by a set
of sociological rules, and no longer knew what to expect from one
another. In 1894, he was permanently appointed associate
professor at Bordeaux. In 1895, he published "Les Règles de la
méthode sociologique" (The Rules of Sociological Method), his second
most important work. In 1897, he published his third major work,
"Le Suicide: étude de sociologie" (Suicide : A Study in Sociology).
Two years later, he established an important
journalistic collaboration program, which leads to the foundation of
the "L'Année Sociologique, France's first
Social Science Journal. Prior to this breakthrough, the
only publication to have a Sociology section was "La Revue
philosophique", which had featured some of Durkheim's writings.
In 1902, the chair of "Science of Education", occupied by Ferdinand Buisson,
a man instrumental in the implementation of Jules Ferry's educational
reforms, became available due to his appointment to the Chamber of
Deputies.
Durkheim was soon thereafter appointed "Chargé de Cours"
at the Sorbonne, and four years later, was made Professeur, later
taking over Buisson's chair, which was subsequently named the chair of
"Science of Education and Sociology".
In 1912, Durkheim published his fourth major
work, "Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse" (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life),
by then, his scientific approach to every social phenomenon, had not
only managed to draw the ire of the Catholic Church, some
philosophers, and the Right Wing, but he had also gained quite a fair
bit of power in the world of academia; his lecture courses were
required curriculum for all philosophy, literature, and history
students. Durkheim also educated the next generation of teachers
who were also glad to follow in his footsteps.
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