Evolution Of Educational Thought Research Articles

Redefining the Sociological Paradigm: Emile Durkheim and the Scientific Study of Morality

Whereas Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) has long been envisioned as a structuralist, quantitative, and positivist sociologist, some materials that Durkheim produced in the later stages of his career—namely, Moral Education (1961 [1902-1903]), The Evolution of Educational Thought (1977 [1904-1905]), The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1915 [1912]), and Pragmatism and Sociology (1983 [1913-1914]) attest to a very different conception of sociology—one with particular relevance to the study of human knowing, acting, and interchange. Although scarcely known in the social sciences, Emile Durkheim’s (1993 [1887]) “La Science Positive de la Morale en Allemagne” [“The Scientific Study of Morality in Germany”] is an exceptionally important statement for establishing the base of much of Durkheim’s subsequent social thought and for comprehending the field of sociology more generally. This includes the structuralist-pragmatist divide and the more distinctively humanist approach to the study of community life that Durkheim most visibly develops later (1961 [1902-1903]; 1977 [1904-1905]; 1915 [1912]; 1983 [1913-1914]) in his career.

The origin of the inner voice: Durkheim, Christianity and the Greeks

While the influence of classical philosophy on sociology has been the subject of several studies, less attention has been given to the question of how the founders of sociology viewed classical philosophy. This article discusses Émile Durkheim’s account of the historical role of Greek philosophy as described in his lectures on The Evolution of Educational Thought. It demonstrates how Durkheim makes several erroneous claims concerning Greek morality that, taken together, produced a stereotyped image of the Greeks as intellectual giants but moral dwarfs. Downplaying the historical role of Greek morality, Durkheim attributes one of the most important social facts in connection with the development of Western moral individualism – the inward-oriented morality – to the innovative power of Christian religion. Despite this bias, the great twentieth-century interpreters of social thought, such as Talcott Parsons, Steven Lukes and Robert A. Jones, have continually referred to Durkheim’s historical analyses without questioning his assertions. Sociologists need to cease citing Durkheim as an authority on moral education in the classical world inasmuch as so many of his claims promote a false image of Greek morality and education.

On the Necessity of Re-engaging the Classical Greek and Latin Literatures: Lessons from Emile Durkheim’s The Evolution of Educational Thought

Although much overlooked by both sociologists and educators, Emile Durkheim’s The Evolution of Educational Thought (EET; lectures from 1904–1905) not only provides extended insight into the developmental flows and disjunctures of Western education and scholarship from the classical Greek era to Durkheim’s own time but also indicates the fundamentally sociological nature of these transformations. As well, and in contrast to the more heavily structuralist, Cartesian rationalist approach that Durkheim adopts in his earlier, better known works (especially The Division of Labor in Society, Rules of the Sociological Method, and Suicide), Durkheim’s EET may be better characterized as a historically informed, sociological pragmatist approach to the study of education as a humanly engaged process. Given the extended amount of material covered in EET and the necessity of establishing in some detail Durkheim’s position on the development of educational thought over the preceding 2000 years, it has been necessary to divide this material into smaller packages for the purpose of presentation. In the first six chapters of EET Durkheim addresses (a) the Greek and Latin foundations of educational thought in France, (b) the role that the early Christian church assumed in shaping and preserving education and scholarship, and (c) the nature and emphasis of the Carolingian Renaissance (8th and 9th centuries), along with its relevance for the development of universities in Europe. Following (1) an introduction to Durkheim’s EET, (2) a synopsis of the first six chapters of EET, and (3) a highly compacted overview of the remaining 21 chapters of this volume, this paper concludes with (4) a commentary on the necessity of attending to the historical development of Western social thought for a sociological analysis of knowing and acting. An epilogue briefly considers (5) some ways that sociologists, classicists, and other students of the human condition may contribute to this exceptionally consequential venture

Examining Community Life “in the Making”: Emile Durkheim’s Moral Education

Although often overlooked in sociological circles, Emile Durkheim’s (1902–1903) Moral Education provides an important cornerstone in the quest to understand community life. Not only does Moral Education give a vibrant realism to the sociological venture in ways that Durkheim’s earlier works (1893, 1895, 1897) fail to achieve, but in addressing discipline, devotion, and informed reasoning as humanly engaged, collectively accomplished fields of activity Emile Durkheim also provides an exceptionally consequential baseline analysis of human knowing and acting. Notably as well, focusing on the organizational, intersubjectively achieved features of elementary education, Durkheim’s Moral Education lays bare the interactional nature of the moral order of community life. Indeed, as a sustained analysis of the way of life of a group of people collectively participating in the educational process, this text addresses the most basic features of people’s relations to one another and the broader society in which they find themselves. Much more than an account of childhood socialization, Durkheim’s Moral Education also presages the more thoroughly humanist sociology that Durkheim develops in The Evolution of Educational Thought (1904–1905), The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912) and Pragmatism and Sociology (1913–1914).

Book Review of The Evolution of Educational Thought: Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France.

Book Review of The Evolution of Educational Thought: Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France.

Durkheim's contribution to the sociological analysis of history

Emile Durkheim has long been viewed as one of the founders of the so-called variables-oriented approach to sociological investigation. This view ignores his considerable achievements using the methodology of “case-based” historical analysis, most prominent among them, his lectures on the history of French education (The Evolution of Educational Thought).In this paper I first outline the intimate relationship that Durkheim envisioned between historical and sociological investigation. I then turn to his work on French education for substantive illustrations of his approach. Finally, I explore certain points of intersection between Durkheim's approach to history and present-day concerns, especially in regard to the role of culture in history and the opposition between prospective and retrospective (“teleological”) strategies of historical analysis.

The Evolution of Educational Thought: Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France

The Evolution of Educational Thought: Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France

The Evolution of Educational Thought. Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France

The Evolution of Educational Thought. Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France

Reviews

The Evolution of Educational Thought (Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France). By Emile Durkheim. Translated by Peter Collins. Pp. 354. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977. £7.50. Born Curious: New Perspectives in Educational Theory. By R. A. Hodgkin. Pp. vii, 131. London: John Wiley and Sons, 1976. £5.50. Equalities and Inequalities in Education. Edited by P. R. Cox, H. B. Miles and J. Peel. London: Academic Press, 1975. Pp. xx, 144. £4.50. ISBN 0–12–194240–6. Civic Education in Ten Countries. By J. V. Torney, A. N. Oppenheim, R. F. Farnen. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell; London: John Wiley, 1975. Problems in Primary Education. By R. F. Dearden. Pp. 132. London, Henley and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976. £3.00. Educational Research in Classrooms and Schools. By Louis Cohen. Pp. xvi, 426. London: Harper and Row, 1976. £8.50. The Dissemination of Curriculum Development. By Jean Rudduck and Peter Kelly. Pp. 111. Windsor: NFER Publishing Company, 1976. Developments in Design Education. By John Eggleston. Pp. x+138. London: Open Books, 1976. £1.75. Handbook of Environmental Education. Edited by R. N. Saveland for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Morges, Switzerland. Pp. 267. London: John Wiley and Son, 1976. £7.50.

The Evolution of Educational Thought

The Evolution of Educational Thought

The Evolution of Educational Thought: Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France. Émile Durkheim , Peter Collins

<i>The Evolution of Educational Thought: Lectures on the Formation and Development of Secondary Education in France</i>. Émile Durkheim , Peter Collins

Bernstein and Durkheim: Two Theories of Change in Educational Systems

Emile Durkheim's The Evolution of Educational Thought and the third volume of Basil Bernstein's Class, Codes and Control2 are important contributions to the theory of social and educational change. The English translation of Durkheim's lectures on the history of French secondary education is likely to have a dramatic impact not only on future interpretations of his thought but also on the general orientation of educational research. The most recent volume in Bernstein's series is a significant addition to his studies of social class and educational codes. The aim of this essay is to draw out parallels and differences between Durkheim's and Bernstein's theories of educational systems; this comparison will highlight Bernstein's reformulation of certain features of Durkheim's thought.