biography
pronunciation:
[layvee brül]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1857–1939)
|
| biography:
| Anthropologist and philosopher, born in Paris, France. He studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, and was appointed professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne in 1904. His early work was in moral philosophy and his ideas greatly influenced the modern study of religion. In La Mentalité primitive (1922) he advanced his theory on the development of the human mind, suggesting that the mentality of primitive people was essentially mystical and prelogical, differing from the rational and logical thought of the modern West. This view drew him into a sharp exchange with Durkheim, and has little support today. Other works include La Morale et la science des moeurs (1903, Ethics and Moral Science), Les Fonctions mentales dans les sociétés inférieures (1910), and L'Âme primitive (1927). |
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