涂尔干的社会信仰说

Emile Durkheim's Theory of Social Beliefs

涂尔干认为,道德是随着群体生活而生的,社会的本性蕴含着道德。社会是一个"情感记忆的共同体",体现其集体价值观的重要事件与仪式,在个体成长的历程中会逐渐积淀成为族群共同的文化心理基底。社会是所有信仰体系和膜拜体系的基础,它是个体得以实现其各种观念、信仰和情感组成的组合体。社会能够激发集体情感,并经由内在的凝聚力唤起群体共同的信仰。而仪式不仅可以使情感得以集聚,行为得以规约,更能使集体意识的本质要素"集体记忆"得到复苏。仪式在增强个体社会性的同时,也产生了信仰赖以维系的根基——神圣感。仪式具有内在的组织性、持续性和方向性,它影响着人的认知、信念和选择,对个体道德情感、道德意志和行为结构发挥着潜移默化的形塑作用。涂尔干的社会信仰以共同体为联结纽带,以情感为凝聚力,以仪式为生成机制,从存在层、心理层、实践层三个维度展现了宗教信仰的社会生活图景,从而真正意义上将信仰体系建立在社会这个经验实在之上。

Emile Durkheim thinks that morality is born with the collective life and the nature of society involves morality. Society is a community of ＂emotional memory＂and the impiortant events and rituals with collective values will be gradually accumulated as the basic ethnic common cultural psychology in the process of individual growth. The society is the foundation of all the belief systems and worship systems,and it is a combination of individuals to realize their ideals,beliefs,and emotions. Society can stimulate the collective emotion,and summon faith groups together through the internal cohesion. As for the ritual,it can not only polymerize emotion,regulate behavior,but also make the essence of the ＂collective memory＂—collective consciousness—recover. In enhancing the individuals’ social nature,the ritual also forms the foundation of the beliefs—the sense of sacredness. The ritual has internal organization,persistence and direction,and it affects people’s cognition,beliefs and choices,and plays a potential role in the shaping of the individuals’ moral emotion,moral will and behavior structure. Emile Durkheim’s theory of social beliefs shows the pictures of social life with religious beliefs by the ties of community,the cohensive force of emotion and ritual mechanism,which are rooted in the layer of existence,psychology and practice.Thus,the belief system has been established on the basis of real life experience.