Synopses & Reviews
This major reassessment of the work of Emile Durkheim is presented in the context of a French philosophical tradition that seriously misread Kant by interpreting his theory of the categories as psychological faculties. Durkheim's sociological theory of the categories, as revealed by Warren Schmaus, is an attempt to provide an alternative way of understanding Kant. The categories are necessary conditions for human society for Durkheim. The concepts of causality, space and time support the moral rules and obligations that make society possible.
Synopsis
This book offers a major reassessment of the work of Durkheim in the context of a French philosophical tradition that had seriously misinterpreted Kant by interpreting his theory of the categories as psychological faculties. Durkheimâs sociological theory of the categories is an attempt to provide another way of understanding Kant.
Synopsis
Durkheimâs sociological theory of the categories is an attempt to provide another way of understanding Kant.
Table of Contents
Preface and acknowledgements; 1. Durkheim and the social character of the categories; 2. Historical background: Aristotle and Kant; 3. The categories in early nineteenth-century French philosophy; 4. The later eclectic spiritualism of Paul Janet; 5. The early development of Durkheimâs thought; 6. Durkheimâs sociological theory of the categories; 7. Prospects for the sociological theory of the categories; Notes; Bibliography; Index.