Response to Durkheim Readings

In the selected reading that we did for class regarding the elementary form of religion, Durkheim gives us his theory of the collective nature of religious thought and practice. One element of religion practice that he focuses on to use to support his theory is the use of totemism. Durkheim says that because totems are considered sacred, and are representations of dissimilar things, their sacredness can only be explained by the communal consciousness of the believers. I agree up to this point with his ideas, but he then goes on to say that . these religious totems are anonymous forces that outlive their adherents I disagree.
Even when we review his descriptions the important basic elements of religious thought however primitive, still involves the ability to conceptualize the experience of the totem as sacred, which Durkheim acknowledges when he describes the dichotomy that exists within all religious beliefs of the sacred and the profane. There exists the classification between the ideal and what is really real. This does not necessarily support his argument that the supernatural does not exist within primitive religions because these groups do not have the concept of what is the natural order and the variation of that order,. which would be the supernatural. I think that you could easily argue that these religions did have the ability to conceptualize this if they were able to separate the sacred and the profane.
Durkheim is ignoring the premise that these objects only hold this religious value through human thought. Because human thought is subjective, the religious signifigence of these totems exist only in the mind of the believers and not independently of it. The force that he describes as constant through generations cannot be possible because we cannot assume that the experience of these forces remains the same. It depends on how the experience is conceptualized.

Durkheim, Emile The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (New York: Free Press, 1995)
Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, (New York Free Press, 1995)