One of the misinterpretations standing in the way of an understanding of Durkheim's epistemology is the belief that he took a Kantian position on dualism. The misinterpretation is consequential in that it supports the claim that he also took a Kantian position on epistemology. Durkheim does take a position on human reason that he refers to as “dualism.” This position is presented, in conjunction with his discussion of epistemology, in the Introduction to The Elementary Forms, and plays a key role in the argument. In fact, Durkheim felt so strongly about the centrality of his position on dualism to the argument of The Elementary Forms as a whole, and was so disappointed that the argument was misunderstood, that, in response to criticism of that book, he wrote an article devoted entirely to an explanation of his position on dualism. The article, “The Dualism of Human Nature and its Social Conditions” was published in 1914, in the journal Scientia two years after the publication of The Elementary Forms.

In the Scientia article Durkheim argued that there are two aspects of each human being: a pre-rational animal being and a rational social, or human, being. These two aspects of the person conflict with one another, producing the internal tension that philosophers across the ages have referred to as dualism. According to Durkheim ([1914]1960:329):