Durkheim's Suicide and the Question of Intention

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Durkheim dismissed “intention” and “motives” from his conceptual framework in his effort to analyze suicide as a social fact He also rejected psychopathic states, heredity, and other “extra-social” factors as possible causes of suicide on the basis of statistical information available to him. This paper examines the way in which Durkheim worked out his position on the social conditions he regarded as responsible for suicide, and discusses some of the major problems involved. It is argued that Durkheim did not achieve the consistent position for which he strived, and that his methods did not always parallel his views on the use of “intention.”