Analysis Of Durkheim's Elementary Forms Of Religious Life

Durkheim who was considered the ‘father’ of Sociology and wanted to establish the science of religion and morality which, in turn annoyed religious dominations such as the Catholics but also philosophers. He wrote this text becoming interested in primitive religion and, what seemed to be his main motive in his work ‘Elementary Forms of Religious Life’. He wanted to explain and describe the most primitive religion known to man as he believe we could understand humans beings better, through religion and the evolutionary process of religion. Durkheim himself was of Jewish heritage (although came to stop practising Judaism) was encouraged strongly into following his father’s path of being a rabbi, however he quickly changed his mind and pursued

However if it’s in terms of gaining an understanding of how religion has developed over time and become so internal within individuals then The Elementary Forms of Religious Life can be useful in giving an insight in this. Evidently Durkheim’s intentions for why he wrote this is unclear it may be he was simply interested in the evolutionary development of religion or there may be a hidden agenda behind his work. As he was not practising a religion it might explain his emphasis of ‘other’ things being sacred or deserving recognition as well rather than typically ‘personal beings’ such as Gods, saints or spirits. This might imply Durkheim’s own idea of how to live spiritually by appreciating certain virtues and to develop your own moral guidelines and to live by them. Instead of worshipping a personal being which may cause future conflict and hatred among people who worship other personal beings. This is why he may of seen Buddhism as the ideal religion because it focuses more on scared concepts such as the Four Noble Truths rather than a supreme being which he actually believed to be a relatively new idea due to science need to separate humans from other beings. Durkheim was essentially trying to answer a complex philosophical question of what the fundamental nature of religion is through sociological means rather than philosophically. Again he tries to do this by looking at the very beginning of primitive religion, its nature and sacred concepts. Lester F Ward who wrote ‘The Essential Nature of Religion’ although published before Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of Religious Life, he again corroborates with Durkheim in the sense that in order to understand religion and its significance in this world and to the individuals who practice the religious life we must look at the very beginnings of religion and how it came to be as