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Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion
This chapter is in the book Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion
LucienLévy-BruhlLucienLévy-Bruhlwasbornin 1857 in Paris,wherehereceivedhis primaryandsecondaryschooleducation.In 1876 he entered theEcoleNormaleSupérieure,wherehespecializedin philosophy. He passed theagrégationexaminationin1879 andtaught subsequentlyatsecondaryschoolsat Poitiers(1879–1882),atAmiens(1882–1883) andin Paris(1883–1895).Havingobtainedhisdoctoratein 1884,hetaughtfrom1886onwardsat theEcoleLibredesSciencesPolitiques,from1895onwardsat theEcoleNormaleSupérieure,andfrom1896onwardsatthe Sorbonne.Lévy-Bruhlbecamehereprofessorof the historyof modernphilos-ophyin1904.In1917hebecametheeditor of theRevuePhilosophique,andin1925 he founded theInstitutd’Ethnologie,togetherwithPaul Rivetand MarcelMauss.In 1927 he withdrewfromit andalsoretired fromtheSorbonne.Lévy-Bruhlwasavisitingprofessorat Harvard in 1919–1920 andsubsequentlymadeagreatnumberof travels abroad.He diedin Paris in 1939.Thefollowingtranslationsof Lévy-Bruhl’sworkexistin English:1899Historyof ModernPhilosophyinFrance;1903ThePhilosophyofAugusteComte;1905Eth-ics andMoral Science;1923PrimitiveMentality;1926HowNativesThink;1929The‘Soul’of thePrimitive;1935PrimitivesandtheSupernatural.Besideshis studiesin philosophyand in thehistoryof socialthought,Lévy-Bruhlpaidconsiderableattentiontothe problemof the‘primitive’or‘archaic’mentality.His investigationson primitive ways of thinkingand histhoughtonprimitive versusmodernmentality areof ageneral interest in viewof theprob-lemof theunityof thehumanmind,andtheyarealsorelevantfor theinterpre-tationof religiousbehaviorandexpression.At theendof hislifeLévy-Bruhlcameto considerin hisCarnets(1949)thedifferencebetween‘primitive’and‘modern’mentalityas beingoneof nuancesandnotof principle.He consideredparticipationas afundamental human datum,though it manifests itselfmostclearlyinprimitive society.Hethenrejected hisformertheoriesof‘prelogical’reasoning. TheCarnets,posthumously discoveredandpublished, showLévy-Bruhl’sconstantsearchforaclearconceptualizationandamethodologybasedon description.ThefollowingfragmenthasbeentakenfromHowNativesThinkandshowsthewayinwhich Lévy-Bruhlinterpreted thereligiousperceptionof non-literatepeoplein 1910.
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

LucienLévy-BruhlLucienLévy-Bruhlwasbornin 1857 in Paris,wherehereceivedhis primaryandsecondaryschooleducation.In 1876 he entered theEcoleNormaleSupérieure,wherehespecializedin philosophy. He passed theagrégationexaminationin1879 andtaught subsequentlyatsecondaryschoolsat Poitiers(1879–1882),atAmiens(1882–1883) andin Paris(1883–1895).Havingobtainedhisdoctoratein 1884,hetaughtfrom1886onwardsat theEcoleLibredesSciencesPolitiques,from1895onwardsat theEcoleNormaleSupérieure,andfrom1896onwardsatthe Sorbonne.Lévy-Bruhlbecamehereprofessorof the historyof modernphilos-ophyin1904.In1917hebecametheeditor of theRevuePhilosophique,andin1925 he founded theInstitutd’Ethnologie,togetherwithPaul Rivetand MarcelMauss.In 1927 he withdrewfromit andalsoretired fromtheSorbonne.Lévy-Bruhlwasavisitingprofessorat Harvard in 1919–1920 andsubsequentlymadeagreatnumberof travels abroad.He diedin Paris in 1939.Thefollowingtranslationsof Lévy-Bruhl’sworkexistin English:1899Historyof ModernPhilosophyinFrance;1903ThePhilosophyofAugusteComte;1905Eth-ics andMoral Science;1923PrimitiveMentality;1926HowNativesThink;1929The‘Soul’of thePrimitive;1935PrimitivesandtheSupernatural.Besideshis studiesin philosophyand in thehistoryof socialthought,Lévy-Bruhlpaidconsiderableattentiontothe problemof the‘primitive’or‘archaic’mentality.His investigationson primitive ways of thinkingand histhoughtonprimitive versusmodernmentality areof ageneral interest in viewof theprob-lemof theunityof thehumanmind,andtheyarealsorelevantfor theinterpre-tationof religiousbehaviorandexpression.At theendof hislifeLévy-Bruhlcameto considerin hisCarnets(1949)thedifferencebetween‘primitive’and‘modern’mentalityas beingoneof nuancesandnotof principle.He consideredparticipationas afundamental human datum,though it manifests itselfmostclearlyinprimitive society.Hethenrejected hisformertheoriesof‘prelogical’reasoning. TheCarnets,posthumously discoveredandpublished, showLévy-Bruhl’sconstantsearchforaclearconceptualizationandamethodologybasedon description.ThefollowingfragmenthasbeentakenfromHowNativesThinkandshowsthewayinwhich Lévy-Bruhlinterpreted thereligiousperceptionof non-literatepeoplein 1910.
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Foreword: Plus ça change v
  3. Preface to the Paperback Edition xiii
  4. Contents xxvii
  5. Introduction: View of a Hundred Years’ Study of Religion
  6. Preliminary 3
  7. Historical Survey 7
  8. Looking Back 73
  9. Anthology
  10. Introductory Note 79
  11. Part One: The Study of Religion Established as an Autonomous Discipline
  12. F. Max Müller 83
  13. Cornelis P. Tiele 94
  14. Pierre D. Chantepie de la Saussaye 102
  15. Part Two: Connections with Other Disciplines
  16. Johann J. Bachofen 113
  17. Ernest Renan 121
  18. N. D. Fustel de Coulanges 129
  19. Julius Wellhausen 133
  20. William Robertson Smith 145
  21. Friedrich C. G. Delitzsch 155
  22. Albert Schweitzer 169
  23. William James 181
  24. Herbert Spencer 193
  25. Edward B. Tylor 204
  26. Andrew Lang 215
  27. James George Frazer 239
  28. Robert R. Marett 252
  29. Wilhelm Schmidt 259
  30. Arnold van Gennep 281
  31. Emile Durkheim 295
  32. Marcel Mauss 319
  33. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl 328
  34. Max Weber 346
  35. Sigmund Freud 354
  36. Part Three: Religion as a Special Subject of Research
  37. Nathan Söderblom 373
  38. William Brede Kristensen 382
  39. Gerardus van der Leeuw 390
  40. Rudolf Otto 425
  41. Friedrich Heiler 453
  42. Heinrich Frick 473
  43. Joachim Wach 480
  44. Part Four: Later Contributions from Other Disciplines
  45. Carl Gustav Jung 519
  46. Bronislaw Malinowski 537
  47. Robert H. Lowie 552
  48. Paul Radin 559
  49. Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown 580
  50. Martin P. Nilsson 599
  51. Walter F. Otto 612
  52. Part Five: Perspectives of a Phenomenological Study of Religion
  53. Raffaele Pettazzoni 633
  54. Hendrik Kraemer 637
  55. Max Scheler 648
  56. Gaston Berger 657
  57. Sources and Acknowledgments 661
  58. Indexes
  59. Introductory Note 669
  60. Index of Personal Names 671
  61. Index of Scholarly Concepts 680
  62. Index of Concrete Subjects 725
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110473599-027

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Foreword: Plus ça change v
  3. Preface to the Paperback Edition xiii
  4. Contents xxvii
  5. Introduction: View of a Hundred Years’ Study of Religion
  6. Preliminary 3
  7. Historical Survey 7
  8. Looking Back 73
  9. Anthology
  10. Introductory Note 79
  11. Part One: The Study of Religion Established as an Autonomous Discipline
  12. F. Max Müller 83
  13. Cornelis P. Tiele 94
  14. Pierre D. Chantepie de la Saussaye 102
  15. Part Two: Connections with Other Disciplines
  16. Johann J. Bachofen 113
  17. Ernest Renan 121
  18. N. D. Fustel de Coulanges 129
  19. Julius Wellhausen 133
  20. William Robertson Smith 145
  21. Friedrich C. G. Delitzsch 155
  22. Albert Schweitzer 169
  23. William James 181
  24. Herbert Spencer 193
  25. Edward B. Tylor 204
  26. Andrew Lang 215
  27. James George Frazer 239
  28. Robert R. Marett 252
  29. Wilhelm Schmidt 259
  30. Arnold van Gennep 281
  31. Emile Durkheim 295
  32. Marcel Mauss 319
  33. Lucien Lévy-Bruhl 328
  34. Max Weber 346
  35. Sigmund Freud 354
  36. Part Three: Religion as a Special Subject of Research
  37. Nathan Söderblom 373
  38. William Brede Kristensen 382
  39. Gerardus van der Leeuw 390
  40. Rudolf Otto 425
  41. Friedrich Heiler 453
  42. Heinrich Frick 473
  43. Joachim Wach 480
  44. Part Four: Later Contributions from Other Disciplines
  45. Carl Gustav Jung 519
  46. Bronislaw Malinowski 537
  47. Robert H. Lowie 552
  48. Paul Radin 559
  49. Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown 580
  50. Martin P. Nilsson 599
  51. Walter F. Otto 612
  52. Part Five: Perspectives of a Phenomenological Study of Religion
  53. Raffaele Pettazzoni 633
  54. Hendrik Kraemer 637
  55. Max Scheler 648
  56. Gaston Berger 657
  57. Sources and Acknowledgments 661
  58. Indexes
  59. Introductory Note 669
  60. Index of Personal Names 671
  61. Index of Scholarly Concepts 680
  62. Index of Concrete Subjects 725
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