Peur, crainte et respect
In this article, our focus is on the feeling of respect that lies at the heart of Durkheim’s definition of the sacred and, by extension, of religion in his 1899 article (point 1). In this initial version, Durkheim places central importance on fear and the fear of punishment for failing to respect sa...
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| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Français |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| Acceso en liña: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | In this article, our focus is on the feeling of respect that lies at the heart of Durkheim’s definition of the sacred and, by extension, of religion in his 1899 article (point 1). In this initial version, Durkheim places central importance on fear and the fear of punishment for failing to respect sacred things, with religious beliefs and practices being obligatory (point 2). The imposition of taboos—and dissuasive penalties for their transgression—creates a powerful sense of terror. We know the theoretical inspiration behind this position: Durkheim’s criminological background, and his thesis on solidarity, which is based on a theory of crime and its associated sanctions (point 3). However, the 1899 article also proposes another modality for the social production of the feeling of respect: education, which conditions the child to revere certain “sacred” things, and to fear the sanctions for poor assimilation of obligations and prohibitions (point 4). However, the ultimate foundation for the feeling of respect lies in the authority generated by the group itself (point 5). The central question being: Does this sense of authority arise from the physical sensation of belonging to the group—from the sensory impressions caused by its presence—or rather from the idea of the group? It is clear (point 6) that the last version proposed in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life emphasizes the physical sensation of the group, which is generated by regular and obligatory collective rituals that engage the bodies and the senses through various artistic processes. At the end of the article (point 7), we highlight Durkheim’s theoretical shift on this subject between 1899 and 1912; fear and dread have disappeared from this later conception of religion, and there is no longer a focus on punishment and atonement. The group’s cheerful, festive, positive version of energy has taken over and leads to an enchanted view of religions, at least in the primitive form that Durkheim has chosen to study since the beginning—totemism. |
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