Durkheim's Dualistic Theory of Human Nature

Emile Durkheim is seen as the father of modern sociology. Sociology was, in his own definition, about social structuring and structural determinism. Consistent with this approach is a social consciousness of which individual consciousnesses are, at least in part, only an emanation. How many ideas or sentiments do people have completely on their own? According to Durkheim, there are very few. Each person speaks a language which he or she has not created: people find it ready-made. The dichotomy of society and individual is fundamental to Durkheim's thinking. This paper will discuss Durkheim's dualistic theory of human nature, especially in relation to the sacred and to the profane. It will then explore the validity of the dualistic argument as applied to today's world.

In The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim (1933) declares that people have a dual nature:

There are two beings in him: an individual being which has its foundation in the organism and the circle of whose activities is therefore strictly limited, and a

social being which represents the highest reality in the intellectual and moral order that we can know by observation. This duality of our nature has as its consequence in the practical order, the irreducibility of a moral ideal to a utilitarian motive, and in the order of thought, the irreducibility of reason to individual experience (p. 279).

Durkheim's view of human nature follows rigorously and clearly from his conception of the

Related Essays

Religion and the US .... revolutionary change which would lead to an egalitarian socialism which would be better than capitalism=s singular pursuit of profit. 24:3 Durkheim and Tonnies .... (2662 11 )

Florida, Cuba & Crime .... The Unesco Courier. Sept. 1999, (3-6) 1-4. Stack, S. Durkheim through the lens of Aristotle. Social Forces. Vol. 75. Sept. 1, 1996, (349-350) 1-2. (1352 5 )

Durkheim's Theory of Division of Labor .... Durkheim describes the consequences for a society defined by collective conscience: [A]s the collective conscience becomes weak, the anxieties which are thus .... (6169 25 )

Critiques of Social Theories .... indicate[s] [that] the sexual division of labour within the family and household group .... Durkheim, according to Sydie, is dedicated to the idea that a harmonious .... (2025 8 )

Durkhein and Weber on Religion .... But that is not Durkheim's conclusion. .... Thus do even the most solipsistic individuals ineluctably move toward social reintegration: "[S]ocial progress does not .... (1803 7 )

Sociology as History and Science .... In his Knowledge for What?, Robert S. Lynd (1939) criticizes that "this bias in .... On the other hand, as Kaplan points out, "Durkheim, Weber, and others insisted .... (2016 8 )

Category: Psychology - D