ABSTRACT
Most commentators agree that Durkheim’s sociology of knowledge rests on two major texts. The first, the monograph ‘De quelques formes primitives de classification: contribution à l’étude des représentations collectives’ (1903; 1963) was published in 1903 with Marcel Mauss.1 The second, published nine years later, was his greatest work, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912; 1915). Between the two works Durkheim published little on the subject, save an article which appeared in the Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale with the title, ‘Sociologie religieuse et théorie de la connaissance’ (1909). Except for the last section, the article was incorporated into The Elementary Forms as an introductory chapter. Further, it is generally held that Durkheim’s final position regarding the sociology of knowledge is to be found in The Elementary Formsa point no one can disagree with. What is to be contested, however, is that Primitive Classification is little more than an introduction to the final formulation. This is a position most commentators take. And if this position is not specifically stated by commentators, it is at least implied. For them there is no shift of emphasis, no turning in a slightly different direction, and certainly no radical change of goal or method. Such issues have seldom been raised, let alone debated, among scholars. One recent exception is Mary Hesse, who has remarked on the shift of thought in the two publications (1982). But the precise nature of that shift and its consequences have not been explored by her or by anyone else. What follows is an attempt to rectify the situation by focussing on two issues: the subject matter of the two works and the role of religion in each of them.
