“There is a collective as well as an individual humor inclining peoples to sadness or cheerfulness, making them see things in bright or somber lights. In fact, only society can pass a collective opinion on the value of human life; for this the individual is incompetent.” HumansWellsFactsLightValuesIndividualOpinionSadnessHuman LifeCollectivesCheerfulnessIncompetentSomberValue Of Human Life Book:Suicide Source: Suicide
“Sociological method as we practice it rests wholly on the basic principle that social facts must be studied as things, that is, as realities external to the individual. There is no principle for which we have received more criticism; but none is more fundamental. Indubitably for sociology to be possible, it must above all have an object all its own. It must take cognizance of a reality which is not in the domain of other sciences... there can be no sociology unless societies exist, and that societies cannot exist if there are only individuals.” IfsFactsRealityIndividualSocialPrinciplesPracticeObjectsCriticismMethodFundamentalsSociologyDomainBasic PrinciplesSociological Author:Emile Durkheim
“A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations.” WayFactsIndividualGivenSocialActingHuman NatureExerciseCapableIndependentFixedManifestationConstraints Author:Emile Durkheim
“Society is not a mere sum of individuals. Rather, the system formed by their association represents a specific reality which has its own characteristics... The group thinks, feels, and acts quite differently from the way in which its members would were they isolated. If, then, we begin with the individual, we shall be able to understand nothing of what takes place in the group.” IfsThinkingWayFeelsRealityAbleIndividualGroupsHuman NatureMembersMereCharacteristicsAssociationIsolatedIf Then Author:Emile Durkheim
“Science cannot describe individuals, but only types. If human societies cannot be classified, they must remain inaccessible to scientific description.” IfsHumansScienceIndividualSocietyTypeAccountsDescriptionHuman SocietyInaccessible Author:Emile Durkheim
“While the State becomes inflated and hypertrophied in order to obtain a firm enough grip upon individuals, but without succeeding, the latter, without mutual relationships, tumble over one another like so many liquid molecules, encountering no central energy to retain, fix and organize them.” StatesEnoughOrderIndividualEnergySucceedFirmLatterMutualOrganizeLiquidMolecules Author:Emile Durkheim
“It is not human nature which can assign the variable limits necessary to our needs. They are thus unlimited so far as they depend on the individual alone. Irrespective of any external regulatory force, our capacity for feeling is in itself an insatiable and bottomless abyss.” NeedsHumansFeelingsIndividualForceHuman NatureDependsLimitsCapacityUnlimitedAbyssVariablesInsatiable Book:Suicide Source: Suicide
