Emile Durkheim, also known as “The Metaphysician” by his peers, was the first French academic sociologist. Durkheim was born April 15, 1858 in Epinal, located in the eastern French province of Lorraine coming from a long line of a devout French Jewish family, as his father, his grandfather, and his great grandfather were all rabbis. Durkheim attended a rabbinical school at a young age, but soon realized that was not what he wanted to do. He chose to move schools and attended some of the most prestigious schools in France including College d’Epinal, Lycee Louis-le-Grand, and Ecole Normale Superieure, where he was not originally accepted to, but took three tries before being accepted at Ecole Normale Superieure, which was the traditional training
