Durkheim: the sacred language

Abstract

Durkheim's conception of language is presented against the background of his conceptualisation of social facts and is contrasted with that of Saussure. It is suggested that by emphasinsing the externality of the social fact relative to the individual Durkheim is led to the proposion that the social expresses itself through means characterised by their externality.Durkheim's objective social logos is graphocentric; the sacred is, above all, written. It is argued that Durkheim's problem in The Elementary Forms is to show that thte division between the sacred and profane is established via a differentiation of languages articulated in the primary forms of social domination If the moral force sustaining the believer does not come from the idol he adores or the emblem he venerates, still it is from outside of him as he is well aware. The objectivity of its symbol only translates its externalness (L'objectivi´ du symbole ne fait que traduire cette ext´riorit´) (Durkheim, (1961:264;1960:33).it has sometimes been...