Abstract

In late nineteenth-century France, sociology was striving to separate itself from philosophy, and yet was intellectually, institutionally, and socially dependent upon this connection. This dissertation focuses on Durkheim's debates with members of the Revue de metaphysique et de morale that occurred roughly between 1894 and 1900. Some of Durkheim's critics---Bougle, Lapie, Parodi, and Simiand---would shortly join Durkheim in the enterprise of founding a sociological journal, the Annee sociologique. ;The main thesis of this study is that among the divergent trends within French academic philosophy, the particular version of neo-Kantian rationalism espoused by the core members of the RMM played a crucial role in the formation of Durkheim's emergent sociology. This influence is traced by detailing the relationships among the members of two journals: the Annee sociologique and the RMM. ;The first part of the dissertation analyzes the differences between the RMM's philosophical position and the other available positions in French philosophy. ;The second part examines Durkheim's earlier publications in order to present his position at the time the criticisms began. It then follows the changes in Durkheim's theories, as he responded to his critics and worked to establish his project within the existing intellectual fields and institutional structures. Durkheim was convinced that if science is to advance, the work must be conducted as a team. Therefore, the establishment of the Annee depended upon Durkheim's ability to persuade his RMM collaborators---a group of men who were critical of positivism and its excesses of faith in science---of the possibility of founding sociology on the model of the natural sciences. The success of this effort of persuasion created a working intellectual consensus within the Annee. Later, during the Dreyfus affair, Durkheim and the RMM members came to realize that they shared certain political commitments and moral goals, despite the intellectual differences that remained. This realization resulted in the formation of a ground of personal sympathies, which eventually allowed Durkheim's sociology to benefit from the RMM's institutional legitimacy. Taken together, all these factors were crucial to the eventual dominance of Durkheim's sociology over that of his competitors