Durkheim’s totemic principle, shamanism and Southern African San religions
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies July 29, 2021 R. A. Northover 3 citations
Emile Durkheim’s theory that religion originates from society and collective sentiments is critiqued using speech act theory, cognitive neuroscience, and southern African ethnography. David Lewis-Williams’ shamanism, with its emphasis on altered states of consciousness, trance dance, and potency, is proposed as a more plausible origin of religion than Durkheim’s totemism. Durkheim’s sociological reduction of God to society and his dismissal of individual psychological experience are criticized. While Durkheim helped demystify religion and establish social constructionism, he overestimated collective affect and underestimated the role of individual altered states. The study posits shamanism rather than totemism as the probable origin of religion.