William Watts Miller
Biographic Data
| ID | 3659569 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Watts Miller |
| GIVEN NAMES | William Watts |
| FAMILY NAME | Miller |
| SIGNATURE | MILLER W W |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Social Origins of Thought: Durkheim, Mauss, and the Category Project
By studying how different societies understand categories such as time and causality, the Durkheimians decentered Western epistemology. With contributions from philosophy, sociology, anthropology, media studies, and sinology, this volume illustrates the interdisciplinarity and intellectual rigor of the “category project” which did not only stir controversies among contemporary scholars but paved the way for other theories exploring how the though…
The ‘Revelation’ in Durkheim's Sociology of Religion: A Moment of Creative Evolution
What was the nature of the ‘revelation’ and of the appreciation of William Robertson Smith that, in 1907, Émile Durkheim dated to 1895? This article tracks new developments in his thought after 1895, including an emphasis on creative effervescence. But there was also continuity, involving a search for origins that used the ethnology of a living culture to identify early human socioreligious life with totemism in Australia. It is this continuity, …
The anthropological roots of Émile Durkheim’s British career
Emile Durkheim contributed a paper, read in his absence, to a meeting in 1904 of the newly founded Sociological Society (Becquemont, 1995). However, his British career had much stronger roots in anthropology. A seminal point came in 1898 when his nephew, Marcel Mauss, visited England to meet key writers on religion such as James Frazer and to acquaint them with the launch of the Annee sociologique (Fournier, 1994). In lectures given on radio half…
Creativity: A key Durkheimian concern and problematic
This article mainly employs a traditional approach of textual analysis to open up a relatively neglected topic, the question of creativity in Durkheim's work, but especially in Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. It is also especially in a focus on his insistence on a sui generis social realm, while in the course of this exploring his use of terms such as "substratum", "fusion", and "synthesis", as well as examining issues of duality, e…
In Memoriam: W.S.F. Pickering
London, and died on
Durkheim, the Durkheimians, and the Arts
Using a broad definition of the Durkheimian tradition, this book offers the first systematic attempt to explore the Durkheimians’ engagement with art. It focuses on both Durkheim and his contemporaries as well as later thinkers influenced by his work. The first five chapters consider Durkheim’s own exploration of art; the remaining six look at other Durkheimian thinkers, including Marcel Mauss, Henri Hubert, Maurice Halbwachs, Claude Lévi-Strauss…
Durkheim, the Durkheimians, and the Arts
A Major Discovery: Durkheim's Bordeaux University Library Loans
The discovery of registers recording Durkheim's loans from Bordeaux University's Arts and Science Library, and also his acquisition requests, presents scholars in the fi eld with a vast and at the same time challenging mass of new material.
On Durkheim's Elementary Forms of Religious Life
This is the first collection of essays to be published on Durkheim's masterpiece The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. It represents the work of the most important international Durkheim scholars from the fields of anthropology, philosophy and sociology. The essays focus on key topics including:* the method Durkheim adopted in his study* the role of ritual and belief in society* the nature of contemporary religionThe contributors also explore c…
Durkheim's re-imagination of Australia: A Case Study of the Relation Between Theory and « Facts
On explore ici Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse du point de vue de la relation entre théorie et faits. Dans les premiers volumes de L'Année sociologique , Durkheim avait construit un modèle dans lequel l'Australie fournissait l'exemple de la manière dont, à l'origine, société et religion fusionnaient dans le monde du clan totémique. Il avait la certitude d'avoir discrédité les théories concurrentes. Mais, voilà que sa propre théorie s…
Books Reviews
Rethinking ‘The Dualism
Emile Durkheim, Il dualismo della natura umana e le sue condizione sociali, a cura di Giovanni Paoletti, Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2009, 85 pp. [with introduction, notes and a critical edition, on parallel pages, of the original French text]
Introduction: The Lenoir-Durkheim Lecture Notes on L'enseignement de la morale
These are lectures on morality, attributed to Durkheim by Raymond Lenoir and given to Steven Lukes, who reproduced them in his doctoral thesis on Durkheim. They are published, here, together and in full for the first time. The first group of lectures covers the family, as well as general issues in morality and moral education. The second group of lectures, on civic ethics, covers citizenship, democracy, the state, occupational groups, law, and th…
A Note on Durkheim's Creation of Les Formes Élémentaires
The Dualism of Human Nature' Translators' Note
The Dualism of Human Nature' was made available some time ago in English, and this undoubtedly helped to stimulate the mass of commentary that has grown around the essay and made it well-known. But it is time to replace the old translation, since it is so inadequate and fault-ridden. For example, it involves a systematic impulse to change a Durkheimian collective noun such as our will into English individualized plurals, such as 'our wills'. Or i…
Dynamogénique and Élémentaire
It is important, in all the commentary on Durkheim's Elemental Forms, to take at least some notice of what he himself said it was about. So the importance of the term dynamogénique is that although he uses it on only four known occasions, these are all occasions when he himself comments on his newly published work and says what it is fundamentally about the dynamogenic influence of religion
A Lost Lecture on Religion
The Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales organized a course of lectures during the academic session 1912-13 entitled Le problème religieux dans la pensée contemporaine. The opening lecture, with the same title, was given by Dominique Parodi. Not long after the end of the course it was published in the July issue of the Revue de métaphysique et de morale, and a footnote lists the surnames of those who had also given lectures (Parodi 1913:511). Spelt o…
Total Aesthetics: Art and The Elemental Forms
Past Conferences
A Lost Lecture on Honour
A few weeks before Durkheim was recommended for the chair as mentioned above, he was billed to give a lecture entitled ‘Du Sentiment de l’honneur’ on 8 May 1906.1 It was one in a series of public evening lectures in Paris, organised by the Ecole de la Paix. The Ecole, was a private institution founded in 1905 by Horace Thivet, with the object of spreading pacifism. Among the advertised lecturers in the weekly series were Gustav Belot on ‘La Liber…
Durkheimian Time
This article explores issues, in the Durkheimian tradition, to do with sacred time, rhythms and dynamics, collective memory, collective vision and time as a category. It discusses the work of Durkheim himself but also that of Hubert, Mauss and Halbwachs and, more recently, Nora and Maffesoli. It brings out important differences in views in the Durkheimian group. It also links their theoretical and practical interests, above all through their inte…
Liberalism, Citizenship and Autonomy
Part 1 The Colston lecture: strangers and brothers - liberalism, socialism and the concept of autonomy, Susan Mendus. Part 2 Citizenship - friends, Romans and consumers, Martin Hollis citizenship, politics and autonomy, Richard Norman the work of a free citizen, Anthony Skillen liberal vegetarianism - moderation versus strong sentiments of morals, William Watts Miller. Part 3 Liberalism and rights: the fruits of one's labour, Hillel Steiner liber…
Total Aesthetics: Art and The Elemental Forms
Durkheimian Time
This article explores issues, in the Durkheimian tradition, to do with sacred time, rhythms and dynamics, collective memory, collective vision and time as a category. It discusses the work of Durkheim himself but also that of Hubert, Mauss and Halbwachs and, more recently, Nora and Maffesoli. It brings out important differences in views in the Durkheimian group. It also links their theoretical and practical interests, above all through their inte…
Liberalism, Citizenship and Autonomy
Part 1 The Colston lecture: strangers and brothers - liberalism, socialism and the concept of autonomy, Susan Mendus. Part 2 Citizenship - friends, Romans and consumers, Martin Hollis citizenship, politics and autonomy, Richard Norman the work of a free citizen, Anthony Skillen liberal vegetarianism - moderation versus strong sentiments of morals, William Watts Miller. Part 3 Liberalism and rights: the fruits of one's labour, Hillel Steiner liber…
Dynamogénique and Élémentaire
It is important, in all the commentary on Durkheim's Elemental Forms, to take at least some notice of what he himself said it was about. So the importance of the term dynamogénique is that although he uses it on only four known occasions, these are all occasions when he himself comments on his newly published work and says what it is fundamentally about the dynamogenic influence of religion
Durkheim's re-imagination of Australia: A Case Study of the Relation Between Theory and « Facts
On explore ici Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse du point de vue de la relation entre théorie et faits. Dans les premiers volumes de L'Année sociologique , Durkheim avait construit un modèle dans lequel l'Australie fournissait l'exemple de la manière dont, à l'origine, société et religion fusionnaient dans le monde du clan totémique. Il avait la certitude d'avoir discrédité les théories concurrentes. Mais, voilà que sa propre théorie s…
Creativity: A key Durkheimian concern and problematic
This article mainly employs a traditional approach of textual analysis to open up a relatively neglected topic, the question of creativity in Durkheim's work, but especially in Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. It is also especially in a focus on his insistence on a sui generis social realm, while in the course of this exploring his use of terms such as "substratum", "fusion", and "synthesis", as well as examining issues of duality, e…
A Lost Lecture on Religion
The Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales organized a course of lectures during the academic session 1912-13 entitled Le problème religieux dans la pensée contemporaine. The opening lecture, with the same title, was given by Dominique Parodi. Not long after the end of the course it was published in the July issue of the Revue de métaphysique et de morale, and a footnote lists the surnames of those who had also given lectures (Parodi 1913:511). Spelt o…
Liberalism, Citizenship and Autonomy
Part 1 The Colston lecture: strangers and brothers - liberalism, socialism and the concept of autonomy, Susan Mendus. Part 2 Citizenship - friends, Romans and consumers, Martin Hollis citizenship, politics and autonomy, Richard Norman the work of a free citizen, Anthony Skillen liberal vegetarianism - moderation versus strong sentiments of morals, William Watts Miller. Part 3 Liberalism and rights: the fruits of one's labour, Hillel Steiner liber…
Durkheimian Time
This article explores issues, in the Durkheimian tradition, to do with sacred time, rhythms and dynamics, collective memory, collective vision and time as a category. It discusses the work of Durkheim himself but also that of Hubert, Mauss and Halbwachs and, more recently, Nora and Maffesoli. It brings out important differences in views in the Durkheimian group. It also links their theoretical and practical interests, above all through their inte…
Past Conferences
A Lost Lecture on Honour
A few weeks before Durkheim was recommended for the chair as mentioned above, he was billed to give a lecture entitled ‘Du Sentiment de l’honneur’ on 8 May 1906.1 It was one in a series of public evening lectures in Paris, organised by the Ecole de la Paix. The Ecole, was a private institution founded in 1905 by Horace Thivet, with the object of spreading pacifism. Among the advertised lecturers in the weekly series were Gustav Belot on ‘La Liber…
A Lost Lecture on Religion
The Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales organized a course of lectures during the academic session 1912-13 entitled Le problème religieux dans la pensée contemporaine. The opening lecture, with the same title, was given by Dominique Parodi. Not long after the end of the course it was published in the July issue of the Revue de métaphysique et de morale, and a footnote lists the surnames of those who had also given lectures (Parodi 1913:511). Spelt o…
Total Aesthetics: Art and The Elemental Forms
The Dualism of Human Nature' Translators' Note
The Dualism of Human Nature' was made available some time ago in English, and this undoubtedly helped to stimulate the mass of commentary that has grown around the essay and made it well-known. But it is time to replace the old translation, since it is so inadequate and fault-ridden. For example, it involves a systematic impulse to change a Durkheimian collective noun such as our will into English individualized plurals, such as 'our wills'. Or i…
Dynamogénique and Élémentaire
It is important, in all the commentary on Durkheim's Elemental Forms, to take at least some notice of what he himself said it was about. So the importance of the term dynamogénique is that although he uses it on only four known occasions, these are all occasions when he himself comments on his newly published work and says what it is fundamentally about the dynamogenic influence of religion
A Note on Durkheim's Creation of Les Formes Élémentaires
Introduction: The Lenoir-Durkheim Lecture Notes on L'enseignement de la morale
These are lectures on morality, attributed to Durkheim by Raymond Lenoir and given to Steven Lukes, who reproduced them in his doctoral thesis on Durkheim. They are published, here, together and in full for the first time. The first group of lectures covers the family, as well as general issues in morality and moral education. The second group of lectures, on civic ethics, covers citizenship, democracy, the state, occupational groups, law, and th…
Rethinking ‘The Dualism
Emile Durkheim, Il dualismo della natura umana e le sue condizione sociali, a cura di Giovanni Paoletti, Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2009, 85 pp. [with introduction, notes and a critical edition, on parallel pages, of the original French text]
Books Reviews
On Durkheim's Elementary Forms of Religious Life
This is the first collection of essays to be published on Durkheim's masterpiece The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. It represents the work of the most important international Durkheim scholars from the fields of anthropology, philosophy and sociology. The essays focus on key topics including:* the method Durkheim adopted in his study* the role of ritual and belief in society* the nature of contemporary religionThe contributors also explore c…
Durkheim's re-imagination of Australia: A Case Study of the Relation Between Theory and « Facts
On explore ici Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse du point de vue de la relation entre théorie et faits. Dans les premiers volumes de L'Année sociologique , Durkheim avait construit un modèle dans lequel l'Australie fournissait l'exemple de la manière dont, à l'origine, société et religion fusionnaient dans le monde du clan totémique. Il avait la certitude d'avoir discrédité les théories concurrentes. Mais, voilà que sa propre théorie s…
Durkheim, the Durkheimians, and the Arts
Using a broad definition of the Durkheimian tradition, this book offers the first systematic attempt to explore the Durkheimians’ engagement with art. It focuses on both Durkheim and his contemporaries as well as later thinkers influenced by his work. The first five chapters consider Durkheim’s own exploration of art; the remaining six look at other Durkheimian thinkers, including Marcel Mauss, Henri Hubert, Maurice Halbwachs, Claude Lévi-Strauss…
Durkheim, the Durkheimians, and the Arts
A Major Discovery: Durkheim's Bordeaux University Library Loans
The discovery of registers recording Durkheim's loans from Bordeaux University's Arts and Science Library, and also his acquisition requests, presents scholars in the fi eld with a vast and at the same time challenging mass of new material.
In Memoriam: W.S.F. Pickering
London, and died on
The anthropological roots of Émile Durkheim’s British career
Emile Durkheim contributed a paper, read in his absence, to a meeting in 1904 of the newly founded Sociological Society (Becquemont, 1995). However, his British career had much stronger roots in anthropology. A seminal point came in 1898 when his nephew, Marcel Mauss, visited England to meet key writers on religion such as James Frazer and to acquaint them with the launch of the Annee sociologique (Fournier, 1994). In lectures given on radio half…
Creativity: A key Durkheimian concern and problematic
This article mainly employs a traditional approach of textual analysis to open up a relatively neglected topic, the question of creativity in Durkheim's work, but especially in Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. It is also especially in a focus on his insistence on a sui generis social realm, while in the course of this exploring his use of terms such as "substratum", "fusion", and "synthesis", as well as examining issues of duality, e…
The Social Origins of Thought: Durkheim, Mauss, and the Category Project
By studying how different societies understand categories such as time and causality, the Durkheimians decentered Western epistemology. With contributions from philosophy, sociology, anthropology, media studies, and sinology, this volume illustrates the interdisciplinarity and intellectual rigor of the “category project” which did not only stir controversies among contemporary scholars but paved the way for other theories exploring how the though…
The ‘Revelation’ in Durkheim's Sociology of Religion: A Moment of Creative Evolution
What was the nature of the ‘revelation’ and of the appreciation of William Robertson Smith that, in 1907, Émile Durkheim dated to 1895? This article tracks new developments in his thought after 1895, including an emphasis on creative effervescence. But there was also continuity, involving a search for origins that used the ethnology of a living culture to identify early human socioreligious life with totemism in Australia. It is this continuity, …
Philosophy (18 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Emile Durkheim and Sociology (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Law (7 works) · History (6 works) · History (5 works)