Gofman, Alexandre. Durkheim était-il rationaliste ? Contribution à l’analyse de la sociologie morale durkheimienne

Abstract

This article attempts to clarify the essence of Durkheim’s rationalism, especially in his interpretation of morality. The author distinguishes between two aspects, or meanings, of Durkheim’s rationalism: 1) epistemological one and 2) ontological one. In the first, epistemological sense, Durkheim was a convinced rationalist, defending rationalistic means of cognition of social phenomena. In the second, ontological sense, Durkheim was only partially a rationalist. He argued that the social reality is subject to the laws and regularities of nature; but, at the same time, it is the sphere of domination of ‘irrational’ factors (collective emotions, passions, beliefs, etc). According to Durkheim, science could not be a direct substitute for religion. He predicted a phenomenon that could be called the ‘rationalization and moralization of the sacred’.

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