Abstract
When studying the work of Émile Durkheim, scholars must consider how his intellectual development in a traditional Jewish environment contributed to and informed his ideas. This article details how Durkheim’s upbringing endowed him with a traditional rabbinic thought-model. The author analyzes five of Durkheim’s major works to argue that the system of classification, language, and style of argument Durkheim used to define concepts in his scholarship mirror streams of rabbinic thought. The article builds off the sociology of knowledge to illuminate how Durkheim employed his codified knowledge of biblical texts and modern Jews to bolster his arguments, and reveals the subtler ways he demonstrates his tacit knowledge of the texts and argument styles. The article ends with an exploration of how conceptual frameworks from the sociology of knowledge may be applied to other leading sociological thinkers—how the modes of thinking instilled during formative years may orient scholarship and the benefits and limitations of this approach.
Highlights
When studying the work of Émile Durkheim, scholars must consider how his intellectual development in a traditional Jewish environment contributed to and informed his ideas
I illuminate how Durkheim employed his codified knowledge of biblical texts and modern Jews to bolster his arguments, and the subtler ways he demonstrates his tacit knowledge of the texts and argument styles
The article ends with an exploration of how conceptual frameworks3 from the sociology of knowledge may be applied to other leading sociological thinkers—how modes of thinking instilled during formative years may orient scholarship and the benefits and limitations of this approach
Summary
Inherent to Durkheim’s sociological approach is the distinction between visible symbols —“things”—and non-visible symbols—“ideas” (Durkheim 1966[1895], p. 27). Durkheim’s comparison of those who are morally unbounded to those who are physically diseased mirrored Maimonides presentation of the souls of those who are not acting according to the law: “[s]ome of the sick even desire and crave that which is not fit to eat. Those who are morally ill desire and love bad traits, hate the good path, and are lazy to follow it (2:1). A Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived ca. 1050–1120 in Spain. A Jewish philosopher and rabbi who was born in 1075 in Spain and died in 1141 Israel
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