Durkheim: Essays on Morals and Education

Emile Durkheim, whose writings still exert a great influence over sociological thought, has often been called the father of the sociology of education. He lectured extensively on the subject, and was convinced of its necessary place in social theory. But his work cannot be fully understood unless it is realized that he had an overriding concern form morals. He saw the relationship between morals and education as almost that of theory to practice, yet he never wrote a systematic work on the subject of morals, although for some time he planned such a book and managed just before he died in 1917 to write the opening introduction. This collection of Durkheim's work on morals and education brings together many items translated into English for the first time. A wide selection of articles, reviews and discussions has been included in this book, covering such subjects as, defining morals, the science of morality, moral facts, relativism, the relation of science to morality; and in education, problems of definition, childhood, sex education, Rousseau's 'Emile', teaching secular morality and the effectiveness of moral doctrines. The book also included an introduction to each of the two sections, as well as bibliographies which deal with Durkheim's own works on morals and education, together with those covering references to his writing on these subjects written by others.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments The translations Notation and bibliographies Abbreviations Preface Part I Morals Introduction by W. S. F. Pickering 1 1904a(5) Review 'Lévy-Bruhl, La Morale et la science des moeurs' 2 1905b Contribution to 'Morality without God: an attempt to find a collectivist solution' 3 1906a(11) Review 'Albert Bayet, La Morale scientifique: essai sur les applications morales des sciences sociologiques' 4 1907a(10) Review 'Westermarck, The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, vol. I' 5 1908a(2) A discussion on positive morality: the issue of rationality in ethics 6 1910b A discussion on the notion of social equality 7 1920a 'Introduction to ethics' Part II Education Introduction by W. S. F. Pickering 8 1904a(40) and (41) Review 'Durkheim, 'Pédagogie et sociologie' and Paul Barth, 'Die Geschichte der Erziehung in soziologischer Beleuchtung'' 9 1909a(2) A discussion on the effectiveness of moral doctrines 10 1911a A discussion on sex education 11 1911c(2) 'Childhood' 12 1912b A discussion on the boarding school and the New School 13 1916c 'The moral greatness of France and the school of the future' 14 1919a 'Rousseau on educational theory' Bibliography Morals Education Name Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Dr William S.F. Pickering was for twenty years a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is currently the General Secretary of the British Centre for Durkheimian Studies, which he helped to found in 1991. It is based in the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University. He has written and edited a number of books on Durkheim and his followers including 'Durkheim on Religion', 'Durkheim's Sociology of Religion' and 'Anglo-Catholicism: A Study in Religious Ambiguity', republished by James Clarke and Co. He was ordained for the Church of England in 1950 and has been an Anglican priest since 1951. Dr William S.F. Pickering was for twenty years a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is currently the General Secretary of the British Centre for Durkheimian Studies, which he helped to found in 1991. It is based in the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University. He has written and edited a number of books on Durkheim and his followers including 'Durkheim on Religion', 'Durkheim's Sociology of Religion' and 'Anglo-Catholicism: A Study in Religious Ambiguity', republished by James Clarke and Co. He was ordained for the Church of England in 1950 and has been an Anglican priest since 1951.

Review :
"... The substantial introductions and notes by the editor William Pickering bring an indispensable amount of contextualization and precision... Sociologists and completists in the history of sociology will find here many obscure textes which are not without merit." Yves Laberge, Reviews in Religion & Theology, Volume 21, issue 4, 2014 "W.S.F. Pickering has made available to the English speaking-world Emile Durkheim's works in Morals and Education...The structure of Pickering's book is of great value for research on Durkheim ad well as moral philosophy and philosophy of education." David Bellusci, O.P., Science et Esprit, vol 66, issue 3, (2014)