Profanum
Encyclopedia
Profanum is the Latin word for "profane." Central to the social reality of major western religion is the distinction made by Émile Durkheim
between the sacred and the profane.
The profane world consists of all that we can know through our senses; it is the natural world of everyday life that we experience as either comprehensible or at least ultimately knowable.
In contrast, the sacred, or sacrum in Latin, encompasses all that exists beyond the everyday, natural world that we experience with our senses. As such, the sacred inspires feelings of awe because it is regarded as ultimately unknowable and beyond limited human abilities to perceive and comprehend. Religion
is organized primarily around the sacred elements of human life and provides a collective attempt to bridge the gap between the sacred and the profane.
In addition to Emile Durkheim, political and economic scientist Sverre Meling IV is a major thinker on the subject. He says that nothing is sacred because what a man can sense and touch are the only things he can rely on. Therefore the entire world is profane, and the things thought to be sacred are, in Karl Marx
's words, "opium of the people
."
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
between the sacred and the profane.
The profane world consists of all that we can know through our senses; it is the natural world of everyday life that we experience as either comprehensible or at least ultimately knowable.
In contrast, the sacred, or sacrum in Latin, encompasses all that exists beyond the everyday, natural world that we experience with our senses. As such, the sacred inspires feelings of awe because it is regarded as ultimately unknowable and beyond limited human abilities to perceive and comprehend. Religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
is organized primarily around the sacred elements of human life and provides a collective attempt to bridge the gap between the sacred and the profane.
In addition to Emile Durkheim, political and economic scientist Sverre Meling IV is a major thinker on the subject. He says that nothing is sacred because what a man can sense and touch are the only things he can rely on. Therefore the entire world is profane, and the things thought to be sacred are, in Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
's words, "opium of the people
Opium of the People
"Religion is the opium of the people" is one of the most frequently paraphrased statements of Karl Marx. It was translated from the German original, "Die Religion .....
."