Durkheim’s epistemology, the argument for the social origins of the categories of the understanding, is his most important and most neglected argument. This argument has been confused with his sociology of knowledge and Durkheim’s overall position has been misunderstood as a consequence. This lead to the argument that there are two Durkheims: a functionalist positivist and an idealist. The current popularity of a “cultural" or “ideological” interpretation of Durkheim is as much a misunderstanding of his position as the “functional" interpretation (...) from which the current interpretations seek to rescue him. Durkheim articulated a sophisticated epistemology in the classical sense, a point that has been entirely missed. The argument, which is articulated mainly in the central chapters of “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life”, locates the origin of the fundamental categories of thought in the concrete empirical details of enacted practices. For social constructivists, social consensus, structure, or shared practices lead persons to believe certain things or think in certain ways. Because persons share the same beliefs, they act in ways that reinforce those beliefs. For Durkheim, however, the genesis of the categories of the understanding in enacted practice solved the problem of indeterminacy. (shrink)

The specific of valued dimensions of information need to be in a careful consideration. Historical and theoretical development of a problem of value forms idea of value as teleological structure of human being. In culture, this structure appears as norms, ideals, the goods. This structure becomes value by means of emotional presentation in experience. Thanks to this presentation, the things given in experience are allocated with the importance and become valuable. In sociocultural dynamics of value exist as certain regions of (...) significant life and form certain valuable hierarchies. Value of information in pragmatical interpretation is considered as existence at information of the properties doing it valuable. Valuable information is given by qualities, which possess the pragmatical importance in the course of an exchange of this information: efficiency, profitability, utility, importance etc. Such value of information is defined from the purposes of exchange of information. Value of information in axiological interpretation is considered as existence of special valuable information. In this concept, value is considered as a certain type of information. Information essence of value defines it as a model, which provides a variety of a choice in various situations of activity. The purpose structure is the general phenomenon for a pragmatical assessment of information and axiological value of information. Through selection, stereotypization and a universalization of pragmatical properties of information valuable models are created. These models are various for various forms of activity and various cultures. Based on valuable models further there is an assessment of information proceeding not only from its pragmatical properties, but also from compliance to values. Thus, the analysis of axiological and pragmatical conceptions allows revealing characteristics, which are considered in a modern science as basic principle of forming valued information. This principle are: expedient, affection significance, sociocultural specific. (shrink)