Another book by Emile Durkheim? Many readers will be surprised to find here a new work from one of the greatest minds in the history of sociology, the true founder of the discipline in France, both intellectually and institutionally, and undeniably, together with Max Weber, the most important continuous source of inspiration for the sociological discipline in the world. Some of the surprised readers may soon feel disappointed, however, when they realize that the present text is not another pioneering sociological work but an elementary course in philosophy. Moreover, it is not a text written by Durkheim himself but a compilation of notes taken in Durkheim's class in 1883–4, one that can reasonably be said to represent the teaching and thinking of Durkheim at a very early point of his career. But although the present text is not an original contribution to the philosophical or sociological literature of the nineteenth century as such, it is extremely helpful for an improved understanding of Durkheim's intellectual development and, above all, for an appreciation of the relationship between Durkheim's sociological project and the philosophy out of which it arose.

For some of the most influential stereotypical views of Durkheim's sociological project, the relationship between sociology and philosophy does not appear to be a problem worth studying. If one takes Durkheim to be an archpositivist, sociology means a complete rupture with philosophy.