Lucien Lévy-Bruhl

Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (10 April 1857 – 13 March 1939) was a

Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
French scholar trained in philosophy who furthered anthropology
with his contributions to the budding fields of sociology and
ethnology. His primary field of study involved primitive
mentality.

Born in Paris, Lévy-Bruhl wrote about the 'primitive 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. Lévy-

Bruhl believed in a historical and evolutionary teleology leading Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
from the primitive mind to the modern mind. Sociologist Born 10 April 1857
Stanislav Andreski[1] argued that despite its flaws, Lévy-Bruhl's Paris
How Natives Think was an accurate and valuable contribution to
Died 13 March 1939 (aged
anthropology, perhaps even more so than better-known work by
81)
Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Paris
Lévy-Bruhl's work, especially the concepts of collective Nationality French
representation[2] and participation mystique, influenced the Scientific career
psychological theory of C. G. Jung.
Fields philosophy, sociology,
ethnology
Works Influences Émile Durkheim
Les fonctions mentales dans les sociétés inférieures Influenced Paul Masson-Oursel,
(1910), translated as How Natives Think (1926) C. G. Jung, Louis
La mentalité primitive (1922), translated as Primitive Hjelmslev, Hélène
Mentality (1923) Metzger, Léon
L'âme primitive (1927), translated as The "Soul" of the Brunschvicg,
Primitive (1928, reedited in 1965 with a foreword by Emmanuel Levinas
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
1. Andreski, Stanislav. Social Sciences as Sorcery, London: Andre Deutsch, 1972
2. Jung CG, "Les Racines de La Conscience – Études Sur L' Archétype", Buchet/Chastel,
Paris, 1971, p. 14

External links
Works by Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/48898) at Project
Gutenberg
Biography of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (http://www.bookrags.com/biography-lucien-levy-bruhl/inde
x.html)
anthropolog

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