EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

AND DUALISM

The Power of Society:

· Society can exist only if it penetrates the consciousness of individuals and fashions it in “its image and resemblance.” We can say, therefore, …that a great number of our mental states, including some of the most important ones, are of social origin.” (Durkheim, 1914)

--“Its image and resemblance” is taken from the story of creation.

--How, then, are we fashioned?

Our Composition:

· “In every age, we have been intensely aware of our duality. The body is an integral part of the material universe, as it is made known to us by sensory experience; the abode of the soul is everywhere else, and the soul tends ceaselessly to return to it. This abode is the world of the sacred.”

--Egoistic (individuality) versus morality (detachment from ourselves). “There is a true antagonism between them.”

--We recognize self sacrifice when conducting a moral act.

--“How can we belong entirely to ourselves, and entirely to others at one and the same time?”

The Consequences of Duality:

· “Absolute egoism, like absolute altruism, is an ideal limit which can never be attained in reality. The result is that we are never completely in accord with ourselves for we cannot follow one of our two natures without causing the other to suffer. Our joys can never be pure; there is always some pain mixed with them. We are thus condemned to live in suffering”

--Can we simultaneously satisfy both?

--How can we align our true interests and activities, or interconnect multiple interests so that all are satisfied at once?

Reform of Society:

· “The rules of morality are norms that have been elaborated by society. In fact, society has its own nature and its requirements are quite different from those of our nature as individuals: the interests of the whole are not necessarily those of the part.”

--Is genuine social change top-down or bottom-up?

--How can we restructure society in accordance with local community interests?

· “All evidence compels us to expect our effort in the struggle between the two beings within us to increase with the growth of civilization.”