Rawls2004a

From emcawiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Rawls2004a
BibType BOOK
Key Rawls2004a
Author(s) Anne Warfield Rawls
Title Epistemology and Practice: Durkheim's Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Epistemology, Durkheim, Religion
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Year 2004
Language English
City Cambridge
Month
Journal
Volume
Number
Pages
URL Link
DOI
ISBN 9780521112369
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

Download BibTex

Abstract

In this original and controversial book Professor Rawls argues that Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life is the crowning achievement of his sociological endeavour and that since its publication in English in 1915 it has been consistently misunderstood. Rather than a work on primitive religion or the sociology of knowledge, Rawls asserts that it is an attempt by Durkheim to establish a unique epistemological basis for the study of sociology and moral relations. By privileging social practice over beliefs and ideas, it avoids the dilemmas inherent in philosophical approaches to knowledge and morality that are based on individualism and the tendency to privilege beliefs and ideas over practices, both tendencies that dominate western thought. Based on detailed textual analysis of the primary text, this book will be an important and original contribution to contemporary debates on social theory and philosophy.

Notes