Answer to Question #310557 in Sociology for Munangiwa

Question

In which ways are Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim similar, and how would you say they differ?

Answer 1

Durkheim and Comte certainly disagree over the originary source of religious beliefs: for the latter, it is located in the natural activities of the mind, whereas for Durkheim it stems from social forces. Durkheim rejects Comte’s opinion to unify social science with other scientific disciplines and try to treat it independently. He argues that social facts are different from those assumptions in people’s mind and regular acting such as drinking or sleeping in everyday life.

Both Comte and Durkheim worked within a shared intellectual milieu of assumptions, prejudices and preoccupations, and it is therefore quite conceivable that they could have independently arrived at similar conclusions about primitive religion. Both assign religion the same cognitive functions such as sensory experience.