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Common Interests and Debates Between Durkheim and Westermarck

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Animals in the Sociologies of Westermarck and Durkheim

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series ((PMAES))

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Abstract

This chapter analyses the debates Durkheim and Westermarck had, their common interests and differences in their views regarding the sociological methods, human morality and evolutionary theory. Durkheim’s and Westermarck’s ideas about morals are linked to their different views on the evolutionary ideas: Westermarck’s emphasis on human–animal continuity and shared origins of morals and Durkheim’s viewpoint, which highlighted qualitative uniqueness of human social life and society.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Durkheim 1980, 163–305; Lukes 1985/1973, 179, 407, 411–412.

  2. 2.

    French original: “Pour bien comprendre une pratique ou une institution, une règle juridique ou morale, il est nécessaire de remonter aussi près que possible de ses origines premières” (Durkheim 1896–1897/2006, 1) “La prohibition de l’inceste et ses origines” in Année Sociologique, vol. I.

  3. 3.

    About the debates between Durkheim and Westermarck see, for example, Durkheim 1912a/1915, 65; 1980, 150–159, 161–162, 184, 280–281; Westermarck 1891a/1921, 17–19, 21; 1891b/1925, 183–186, 198, 216; 1906b/1924, 143, 193, 196, 664; 1908b/1926, 263; 1932a, 6, 11, 16; 1932b/2010, 120, 191–192; 1939, 259; see also Ihanus 1990, 344; Lévi-Strauss 1982, 181, 187; Siikala 1998, 8; Stocking 1995, 162–163; Stroup 1982a, xi–xii; 1982b, 103–105.

  4. 4.

    This new introduction was apparently written after Durkheim’s death, but this does not show up in the text in any way. It is unclear if it is possible Westermarck had not heard about Durkheim’s premature death.

  5. 5.

    Westermarck 1891a/1921, 17–22.

  6. 6.

    The etymology of the word ‘evolution’ in Oxford Dictionaries, http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/05/evolution-etymology/. Accessed 5 Sep 2017.

  7. 7.

    Therborn 2000, 39, 44, 48; see also Corbey 2005, 23–24.

  8. 8.

    For example, Ayala 2007.

  9. 9.

    See Horigan 1988, 22, 88.

  10. 10.

    See Corbey 2005, 25; Fiddes 1991, 52–54; McGrane 1989, 78–88.

  11. 11.

    See, for example, Ayala 2007; Holdge and Radick 2003, 7; Waters 2003, 119.

  12. 12.

    See also Stroup 1982b, 40–41.

  13. 13.

    See, for example, Birke 1986, 129–131; Paul 2003.

  14. 14.

    Developmentalism refers to epistemological conceptions of social evolution that are historicist and rest on directional or developmental laws or unfolding models (Sanderson 2007, 33). Darwin, in turn, sees that evolution by natural selection is a non-directional historical process.

  15. 15.

    Necessitarianism means the metaphysical principle that there is exactly one way for the world to be.

  16. 16.

    Sanderson 2007, 27; see also Segerstråle 2000, 375.

  17. 17.

    See also Salmela 1989, 26; Siikala 1998, 10.

  18. 18.

    For example, Durkheim 2004, 100–114.

  19. 19.

    Neither Westermarck or Darwin, nor many current researchers of evolution and morals see that evolutionary theory would remove “essential” element(s) of moral life, including the impact of society on morals (see, e.g., Richards 2003).

  20. 20.

    Durkheim 2004, 110–114, 149–150.

  21. 21.

    Latour 1993, 100–101.

  22. 22.

    “Il est donc naturel que, pour la découvrir, nous nous adressions à des sociétés aussi rapprochées que possible des origines de l’évolution” (Durkheim Durkheim 1912c/2008, 92–93).

  23. 23.

    Durkheim 1982/1895, 92, 116; see also Lukes 1982, 9.

  24. 24.

    Durkheim calls Native Americans Indians (of North America) (Indiens de l’Amérique du Nord) or by the names of their tribes or groups of tribes, like Iroquois. He also uses words like primitives (primitifs) and savages (sauvages). Westermarck uses these same concepts. If we want to know about their attitudes towards these people, we have to analyse their texts more profoundly, as these concepts were still commonly used during their era.

  25. 25.

    Perrier is also the author of the Études sur l’organisation des Lombriciens Terrestres (1874) (Studies on the Organization of Terrestrial Earthworms), which is a study about annelida worms. Durkheim uses this book a lot in The Division of Labour in Society.

  26. 26.

    On Morality and Society—Selected Writings 1973, 149–163, orig. 1914.

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  1. Helsinki, Finland

    Salla Tuomivaara

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Tuomivaara, S. (2019). Common Interests and Debates Between Durkheim and Westermarck. In: Animals in the Sociologies of Westermarck and Durkheim. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26863-3_3

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