Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (10 April 1857 – 13 March 1939) was a French scholar trained in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

who furthered

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

with his contributions to the budding fields of

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

and

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

. His primary field interest was ways of thinking. Born in Paris, Lévy-Bruhl wrote about the mind in his work ''How Natives Think'' (1910), where he posited, as the two basic mindsets of mankind, the "primitive" and the "modern". The primitive mind does not differentiate the supernatural from reality but uses "mystical participation" to manipulate the world. According to Lévy-Bruhl, the primitive mind does not address contradictions. The modern mind, by contrast, uses reflection and

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...

. Lévy-Bruhl did not necessarily believe in a historical and evolutionary

teleology Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

leading from the primitive mind to the modern, but this is often assumed because his work is rarely read in full; rather, his thought is more dynamic, as shown by his later ''Notebooks on Primitive Mentality'', where he admits that non-logical thought is common in modern societies, such as in gambling practices. Sociologist Stanislav Andreski argued that despite its flaws, Lévy-Bruhl's ''How Natives Think'' was an accurate and valuable contribution to anthropology, perhaps even more so than better-known work by

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthr ...

. Lévy-Bruhl's work, especially the concepts of '' collective representation'' and ''

participation mystique ''Participation mystique'', or mystical participation, refers to the instinctive human tie to symbolic fantasy emanations. According to Carl Jung, this symbolic life precedes or accompanies all mental and intellectual differentiation. The concept i ...

'', influenced the psychological theory of

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, ph ...

. His thought also plays a large part in the work of Norman O. Brown.

Works

*''History of Modern Philosophy in France'' (1899) *''La philosophie d'Auguste Comte'' (1900), translated as *''Les fonctions mentales dans les sociétés inférieures'' (1910), translated as ''How Natives Think'' (1926) *''La mentalité primitive'' (1922), translated as ''Primitive Mentality'' (1923) *''L'âme primitive'' (1927), translated as ''The "Soul" of the Primitive'' (1928, reedited in 1965 with a foreword by E. E. Evans-Pritchard) *''Le surnaturel et la nature dans la mentalité primitive'' (1931), translated as ''Primitives and the Supernatural'' (1936) *''La mythologie primitive'' (''Primitive Mythology'', 1935) *''L'expérience mystique et les symboles chez les primitifs'' (''The Mystic Experience and Primitive Symbolism'', 1938) *''Les carnets de Lucien Lévy-Bruhl'' (''Notebooks of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl'', published posthumously in 1949)

References

External links

*
Biography of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
1857 births 1939 deaths 19th-century anthropologists 20th-century anthropologists Anthropologists of religion École Normale Supérieure alumni French anthropologists French male non-fiction writers French philosophers Levites Writers from Paris {{france-philosopher-stub