Jump to content

Edvard Westermarck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edvard Westermarck
Born(1862-11-20)20 November 1862
Helsinki,Finland
Died3 September 1939(1939-09-03)(aged 76)
Tenala,Finland[1]
NationalityFinnish
Known forWestermarck effect
Scientific career
FieldsSociology
InstitutionsLondon School of Economics
Portrait of Westermarck

Edvard Alexander Westermarck(20 November 1862 inHelsinki– 3 September 1939 inTenala)[2]was aFinnishphilosopherandsociologist.[3]Among other subjects, he studiedexogamyand theincest taboo.

Biography

[edit]

Westermarck was born in 1862 in a well-off Lutheran[4]family, part of theSwedish-speaking population of Finland.His father worked at theUniversity of Helsinkias a bursar, and his maternal grandfather was a professor at the same university. It was thus natural for Edvard to study there, obtaining his first degree inphilosophyin 1886, but developing also an interest inanthropologyand reading the works ofCharles Darwin.His thesis,The History of Human Marriage,was published as a book in 1891, and would be published again in a substantially revised edition in 1921.[5]

In 1892, Westermarck became a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Helsinki. While at the university, he became the chairman of thePrometheus Society,a student society promoting religious freedom.[6]He was promoted to professor of Moral Philosophy in 1906 and occupied that chair until 1918,[7]when he moved to theÅbo Akademi UniversityinTurku.[8]

While still teaching Philosophy in Turku, he helped found academicsociologyin the United Kingdom, becoming the first Martin White Professor of Sociology (withLeonard Trelawny Hobhouse) in 1907 in theUniversity of London.[8][7]One of the original reasons he spent time in London is he did not feel safe in Helsinki or Turku because of his advocacy of the independence of Finland, but even when the political situation quieted down, he continued teaching in both London and Turku until 1930 and 1932 respectively. He had also served for some years, between 1918 and 1921, as Rector of the Åbo Akademi University. He retired in 1932, and spent the rest of his life completing and publishing his major works,Ethical Relativity(1932),Three Essays on Sex and Morals(1934),The Future of Marriage in Western Civilization(1936) andChristianity and Morals(1939), the latter published in the year when he died. In 1929, he had published the English version,Memories of My Lifeof his autobiography, originally published in Swedish in 1927.[5]

Views

[edit]

He has been described as "firstDarwiniansociologist "or" the firstsociobiologist",[9]as well as “an authority in the history of morals and of marriage customs.”[8]He denied the then prevailing view that early human beings lived in sexual promiscuity, arguing that in fact historicallymonogamyprecededpolygamy.[7]He maintained that “Marriage is rooted in the family rather than the family in the marriage”.[10]

The phenomenon of reverse sexual imprinting is when two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, and both become desensitised to sexual attraction, now known as theWestermarck effect,was first formally described by him in his thesisThe History of Human Marriage(1891).

Westermarck was also a scholar ofMoroccoand offered a positivist view of how its folk religion was formed in his two-volume workRitual and Belief in Morocco(1926).[7]He had started his fieldwork in Morocco as early as 1898, and visited the country 21 times in the next thirty years, spending in total seven years in the country. He also studied his favorite subject, marriage, there, publishing in 1914Marriage Ceremonies of Morocco.[5]

Westermarck critiqued Christian institutions and Christian ideas on the grounds that they lacked foundation. He was also a moralrelativistand in his two-volumeThe Origin and Development of Moral Ideas(1906–1908) he argued that moral judgements are not rational but are based on emotions and on social approval or disapproval. As a consequence, he also denied the existence of general or universal moral truth.[7]

In the UK, his name is often spelledEdward.His sister,Helena Westermarck,was a writer and artist.[11]

Books

[edit]
  • 1891:The History of Human Marriage.3 Vol, Macmillan, London.
  • 1906:The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas.2 Vol, MacMillan, London
  • 1907:Siveys ja kristinusko: Esitelmä.Ylioppilasyhdistys Prometheus, Helsinki.
  • 1914:Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco.Macmillan, London.
  • 1919:Tapojen historiaa: Kuusi akadeemista esitelmää: Pitänyt Turussa syksyllä 1911 Edward Westermarck.2nd edition. Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura, Helsinki.
  • 1920:Religion och magi(Religion and magick), Studentföreningen Verdandis Småskrifter 149, Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm
  • 1926:Ritual and Belief in Morocco.2 Vol.
  • 1926:A short History of Human Marriage.Macmillan, London.
  • 1930:Wit and Wisdom in Morocco.Routledge, London.
  • 1932:Ethical Relativity.
  • 1932:Avioliiton historia.WSOY, Helsinki.
  • 1932:Early Beliefs and Their Social Influence.London: Macmillan.
  • 1933:Pagan Survivals in Mohammedan Civilisation.London: Macmillan.
  • 1933:Moraalin synty ja kehitys.WSOY, Helsinki.
  • 1934:Three Essays on Sex and Marriage.Macmillan, London.
  • 1934:Freuds teori on Oedipuskomplexen i sociologisk belysning.Vetenskap och bildning, 45. Bonnier, Stockholm.
  • 1936:The future of Marriage in Western Civilisation.Macmillan, London.
  • 1937: "Forward" inThe Wandering Spirit: A Study of Human Migration.Macmillan, London
  • 1939:Kristinusko ja moraali(Christianity and Morals). Otava, Helsinki.

References

[edit]
  1. ^Hertzberg, Lars."WESTERMARCK, Edvard"(in Swedish). Biografiskt lexikon för Finland.Retrieved4 October2020.
  2. ^"Edvard Westermarck".Biografiskt lexikon för Finland(in Swedish). Helsingfors:Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland.urn:NBN:fi:sls-4841-1416928957447.
  3. ^"Obituary: Edward Alexander Westermarck: 1862-1939".American Journal of Sociology.45(3): 452–452. 1939.ISSN0002-9602.
  4. ^Anthropological Association, American (2008).Abstracts of the Annual Meeting, 2008.American Anthropological Association.
  5. ^abcLyons, Andrew (2018)."A Revolutionary Anthropologist Before His Time: Intellectual Biography of Edward Westermarck".Bérose-Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l'anthropologie.Bérose.Retrieved19 January2020.
  6. ^"Prometheus".uppslagsverket.fi(in Swedish).Archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-15.Retrieved2021-12-16.
  7. ^abcde"Edward Westermarck".Encyclopædia Britannica.2019.Retrieved13 January2020.
  8. ^abc"Westermarck, Edward Alexander".Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.Columbia University Press. 2012.Retrieved13 January2020.
  9. ^Sanderson, SK. "REFORMING THEORETICAL WORK IN SOCIOLOGY: A DETAILED REPLY TO MY CRITICS"
  10. ^Cited from:Bertrand Russell.Marriage and Morals
  11. ^Petteys, Chris (1985).Dictionary of women artists: an international dictionary of women artists born before 1900.Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall.ISBN0816184569.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edvard_Westermarck&oldid=1223263955"