Célestin Bouglé


Célestin Charles Alfred Bouglé was a French philosopher known for his role as one of Émile Durkheim's collaborators and a member of the L'Année Sociologique.

Life

Bouglé was born in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-du-Nord. He entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1890 and aggregated in philosophy in 1893. He was, along with Xavier Léon, Élie Halévy, Léon Brunschvicg and Dominique Parodi, one of the founding members of the journal Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale. In 1896 he joined with Durkheim and became one of the first editors of the Année Sociologique. He received his doctorate in 1899.
After teaching in Saint-Brieuc, Montpellier, and Toulouse he took a position at the Sorbonne in 1908, the same year that Essay on the Caste System appeared. He became the director of the École Normale Supérieure in 1935 until 1940. He died in Paris in 1940.

Influence

Bouglé was one of French anthropologist Louis Dumont's foremost inspirations when it came to seeing Indian castes not just as elements making up a whole, but forming an ideological system that in meaning and scope surpasses the sum of the elements.

Works