The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life

CHAPTER I. Definition of Religious Phenomena and of Religion

DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS PHENOMENA AND OF RELIGION

Usefulness of a preliminary definition of religion; method to be followed in seeking this definition--Why the usual definitions should be examined first 23

I.--Religion defined by the supernatural and mysterious-- Criticism: the notion of mystery is not primitive 24

II.--Religion defined in connection with the idea of God or a spiritual being.--Religions without gods--Rites in deistic religions which imply no idea of divinity 29

III.--Search for a positive definition--Distinction between beliefs and rites--Definition of beliefs--First characteristic: division of things between sacred and profane--Distinctive characteristics of this definition--Definition of rites in relation to beliefs--Definition of religion 36

IV.--Necessity of another characteristic to distinguish magic from religion--The idea of the Church--Do individualistic religions exclude the idea of a Church? 42

CHAPTER II. Leading Conceptions of the Elementary Religion

LEADING CONCEPTIONS OF THE ELEMENTARY RELIGION

I.--Animism

Distinction of animism and naturism 48

I.--The three theses of animism: Genesis of the idea of the soul; Formation of the idea of spirits; Transformation of the cult of spirits into the cult of nature 49

II.--Criticism of the first thesis--Distinction of the idea of the soul from that of a double--Dreams do not account for the idea of the soul 55

III.--Criticism of the second thesis--Death does not explain the transformation of a soul into a spirit--The cult of the souls of the dead is not primitive 60

IV.--Criticism of the third thesis--The anthropomorphic instinct--Spencer's criticism of it; reservations on this point--Examination of the facts by which this instinct is said to be proved--Difference between a soul and the spirits of nature--Religious anthropomorphism is not primitive 65

V.--Conclusion: animism reduces religion to nothing more than a system of hallucinations 68

CHAPTER III. Leading Conceptions of the Elementary Religion--(_continued_)

LEADING CONCEPTIONS OF THE ELEMENTARY RELIGION--(continued)

II.--Naturism

History of the theory 71

I.--Exposition of Max Müller's naturism 73

II.--If the object of religion is to express natural forces, it is hard to see how it has maintained itself, for it expresses them in an erroneous manner--Pretended distinction between religion and mythology 78

III.--Naturism does not explain the division of things into sacred and profane 84

CHAPTER IV. Totemism As an Elementary Religion

TOTEMISM AS AN ELEMENTARY RELIGION

I.--Brief history of the question of totemism 88

II.--Reasons of method for which our study will be given specially to the totemism of Australia--The place which will be given to facts from America 93

BOOK II. The Elementary Beliefs

THE ELEMENTARY BELIEFS

CHAPTER I

TOTEMIC BELIEFS

The Totem as Name and as Emblem

I.--Definition of the clan--The totem as name of the clan--Nature of the things which serve as totems--Ways in which the totem is acquired--The totems of phratries; of matrimonial classes 102

II.--The totem as emblem--Totemic designs engraved or carved upon objects; tatooings or designs upon the body 113

III.--Sacred character of the totemic emblem--The churinga--The nurtunja--The waninga--Conventional character of totemic emblems 119

CHAPTER II. Totemic Beliefs--(_continued_)

TOTEMIC BELIEFS--(continued)

The Totemic Animal and Man

I.--Sacred character of the totemic animals--Prohibition to eat them, kill them or pick the totemic plants--Different moderations given these prohibitions--Prohibition of contact--The sacred character of the animal is less marked than that of the emblem 128

II.--The man--His relationship with the totemic animal or plant--Different myths explaining this relationship--The sacred character of the man is more apparent in certain parts of the organism: the blood, hair, etc.--How this character varies with sex and age--Totemism is not plant or animal worship 134

CHAPTER III. Totemic Beliefs--(_continued_)

TOTEMIC BELIEFS--(continued)

The Cosmological System of Totemism and the Idea of Class

I.--The classification of things into clans, phratries and classes 141

II.--Genesis of the notion of class: the first classifications of things take their forms from society--Differences between the sentiment of the differences of things and the idea of class-- Why this is of social origin 144

III.--Religious significance of these classifications: all of the things classified into a clan partake of the nature of the totem and its sacred character--The cosmological system of totemism--Totemism as the tribal religion 148

CHAPTER IV. Totemic Beliefs--(_end_)

TOTEMIC BELIEFS--(end)

The Individual Totem and the Sexual Totem

I.--Individual totem as a forename; its sacred character-- Individual totem as personal emblem--Bonds between the man and his individual totem--Relations with the collective totem 157

II.--The totems of sexual groups--Resemblances and differences with the collective and individual totems--Their tribal nature 165

CHAPTER V. Origins of These Beliefs

ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS

Critical Examination of Preceding Theories

I.--Theories which derive totemism from a previous religion: from the ancestor cult (Wilken and Tylor); from the nature cult (Jevons)--Criticism of these theories 168

II.--Theories which derive collective totemism from individual totemism--Origins attributed by these theories to the individual totem (Frazer, Boas, Hill Tout)--Improbability of these hypotheses--Reasons showing the priority of the collective totem 172

III.--Recent theory of Frazer: conceptional and local totemism--The begging of the question upon which it rests--The religious character of the totem is denied--Local totemism is not primitive 180

IV.--Theory of Lang: that the totem is only a name--Difficulties in explaining the religious character of totemic practices from this point of view 184

V.--All these theories explain totemism only by postulating other religious notions anterior to it 186

CHAPTER VI. Origins of These Beliefs--(_continued_)

ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS--(continued)

The Notion of the Totemic Principle, or Mana, and the Idea of Force

I.--The notion of the totemic force or principle--Its ubiquity-- Its character at once physical and moral 188

II.--Analogous conceptions in other inferior societies--The gods in Samoa, the wakan of the Sioux, the orenda of the Iroquois, the mana of Melanesia--Connection of these notions with totemism--The Arunkulta of the Arunta 191

III.--Logical priority of impersonal force over the different mythical personalities--Recent theories which tend to admit this priority 198

IV.--The notion of religious force is the prototype of that of force in general 203

CHAPTER VII. Origins of These Beliefs--(_end_)

ORIGINS OF THESE BELIEFS--(end)

Origin of the Idea of the Totemic Principle or Mana

I.--The totemic principle is the clan, but thought of under a more empirical form 205

II.--General reasons for which society is apt to awaken the sensation of the sacred and the divine--Society as an imperative moral force; the notion of moral authority--Society as a force which raises the individual outside of himself-- Facts which prove that society creates the sacred 206

III.--Reasons peculiar to Australian societies--The two phases through which the life of these societies alternatively passes: dispersion, concentration--Great collective effervescence during the periods of concentration--Examples--How the religious idea is born out of this effervescence 214

Why collective force has been thought of under totemic forms: it is the totem that is the emblem of the clan--Explanation of the principal totemic beliefs 219

IV.--Religion is not the product of fear--It expresses something real--Its essential idealism--This idealism is a general characteristic of collective mentality--Explanation of the external character of religious forces in relation to their subjects--The principle that the part is equal to the whole 223

V.--Origin of the notion of emblem: emblems a necessary condition of collective representations--Why the clan has taken its emblems from the animal and vegetable kingdoms 230

VI.--The proneness of the primitive to confound the kingdoms and classes which we distinguish--Origins of these confusions--How they have blazed the way for scientific explanations--They do not exclude the tendency towards distinction and opposition 234

CHAPTER VIII. The Idea of the Soul

THE IDEA OF THE SOUL

I.--Analysis of the idea of the soul in the Australian societies 240

II.--Genesis of this idea--The doctrine of reincarnation according to Spencer and Gillen: it implies that the soul is a part of the totemic principle--Examination of the facts collected by Strehlow; they confirm the totemic nature of the soul 246

III.--Generality of the doctrine of reincarnation--Diverse facts in support of the proposed genesis 256

IV.--Antithesis of the soul and the body: what there is objective in this--Relations of the individual soul with the collective soul--The idea of the soul is not chronologically after that of mana 262

V.--Hypothesis to explain the belief in its survival 267

VI.--The idea of a soul and the idea of a person; impersonal elements in the personality 269

CHAPTER IX. The Idea of Spirits and Gods

THE IDEA OF SPIRITS AND GODS

I.--Difference between a soul and a spirit--The souls of the mythical ancestors are spirits, having determined functions-- Relations between the ancestral spirit, the individual soul and the individual totem--Explanation of this latter--Its sociological significance 273

II.--Spirits and magic 281

III.--The civilizing heroes 283

IV.--The great gods--Their origin--Their relations with the totemic system--Their tribal and international character 285

V.--Unity of the totemic system 295

BOOK III. The Principal Ritual Attitudes

THE PRINCIPAL RITUAL ATTITUDES

CHAPTER I

THE NEGATIVE CULT AND ITS FUNCTIONS

THE ASCETIC RITES

I.--The system of interdictions--Magic and religious interdictions--Interdictions between sacred things of different sorts--Interdictions between sacred and profane--These latter are the basis of the negative cult--Leading types of these interdictions; their reduction to two essential types 299

II.--The observance of interdictions modifies the religious state of individuals--Cases where this efficacy is especially apparent: ascetic practices--The religious efficacy of sorrow-- Social function of asceticism 309

III.--Explanation of the system of interdictions: antagonism of the sacred and the profane, contagiousness of the sacred 317

IV.--Causes of this contagiousness--It cannot be explained by the laws of the association of ideas--It is because religious forces are outside of their subjects--Logical interest in this property of religious forces 321

CHAPTER II. The Positive Cult

THE POSITIVE CULT

I.--The Elements of Sacrifice

The Intichiuma ceremony in the tribes of Central Australia-- Different forms which it presents 326

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