The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by E. Durkheim

Résumé du document

The subject of this essay is Emile Durkheim's book ?The Elementary Forms of the religious life'. Hence we will explain why and how E. Durkheim tries to find such elementary forms of religious life. We will first underline that this aim is not limited to Emile Durkheim's theory, as we can say that most anthropologists have tried to find one starting point for all the religions. We face our next difficulty when we try to define the elementary form of religious life because we can't find historical evidence to do so. What then are the different elementary forms proposed by the different anthropologists and how do they identify them? What are the links that can be established between those different theories and what are their interests in a study of religion? It then seems necessary to define what we call an elementary form of religious life. Is it the religion found in the origins of humanity or a phenomenon shared by all religions? Can we really find a universal essence for religion, or is it a single phenomenon? Finally it appears to be necessary to discuss the idea of a ''first or a simplest form of religion'' and its scientific necessity.

Extraits

[...] Then even if his point of vue is reductionist he recognizes that the totemism is a logical way of thinking. His aim is to understand and to describe the complex relation between the individuals and the whole society. Those make a difference with the other theories of 19th century evolutionists, and give more credit to his definition. Durkheim's work in The elementary forms of the religious life gives a perfect example of the desire to extend the results of one study to the whole humanity. [...]

[...] Those authors are called evolutionists and one of them is B.Tylor. The idea is that the oldest religion could be the simplest one, or the one of the simplest society. As Herbert Spencer he thinks that we have to study the evolutions of religion as a progress. Tylor studies the societies that he considers as the simplest as far as the organization is concerned. In those societies he looks for an essential principle that could also be found in all the other religions. [...]

[...] But in modern societies the community of believers is inside the whole society and so is different from the Church indentified by Durkheim . But still we have to underline the impact of Durkheim's theory which remains a necessary step to look for an elementary form of religious life. [...]

[...] So the essence of religion is nor the idea of soul, nor the symbols nor the rituals. To find the answer to our new problem we have to find the universal process of thinking that has leaded all human societies to the need to believe. Religion can come from a common need, and would be an answer to the same desire in different societies. The different religions would be different kinds of the same answer to the same questions. So the elementary form of religious life would be this elementary interrogation or those interrogations. [...]

[...] So, rituals can't be considered as a a precondition for faith, for an elementary manifestation of religious feelings. But, if rituals are different ways to express a belief, we have to discuss the universalists conceptions of religion themselves. In Asad's opinion, there is no universal definition of religion, and Geertz's definition of religion is the historical product of the Western history. Religion for Asad is transhistorical and transcultural: "There cannot be a universal definition of religion not only because its constituent elements and relationships are culturally specific, but because that definition itself is the historical product of discursive processes." According to that theory there cannot be an elementary form of religious life but ony studies of the particular conditions of birth and development of every religion. [...]