A study of the origin of religion As viewed by Durkheim and Tabatabaee

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Azarbaijan

Abstract

Religion has been a powerful and effective factor in all human societies throughout history. For this reason, scholars have always been faced with the question of the origin of religion: What has driven men to religion? Is the reason rational, psychological or social? Sociologists are among the scholars who have provided answers to this question, and the most prominent sociologist who has expressed a theory in Emil Durkheim. He argues that religious phenomena cannot be proved rationally and that, to explaim them, we should look for social and psychological factors. For him, society is the cause of religion. Tabatabaee considers the intellect and the conscience as the sources of religion, but he does not ignore the role of the society. He argues that while society has played a great role in the emergence of religion, it should not be considered as its cause.

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