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Edvard Westermarck

Finnish sociologist (1862–1939)

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In the UK, his name is often spelled Edward. His sister, Helena Westermarck, was a writer and artist.

Biography

Early life and education

Westermarck was born in 1862 in a well-off Lutheran family, part of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland. His father worked at the University of Helsinki as a bursar, and his maternal grandfather was a professor at the same university. It was thus natural for Edvard to study there. He enrolled in 1881, initially studying aesthetics, literature and history before turning to philosophy, and obtained his degree in 1886. During his studies he also developed an interest in anthropology and read the works of Charles Darwin.

During his student years, he was exposed to the naturalistic and evolutionist ideas of the time, with Herbert Spencer and Darwin as key influences. Among the most prominent local representatives of these naturalistic and evolutionist ideas was the promising young researcher Hjalmar Neiglick, who died prematurely but had a significant influence on Westermarck during his student years. He participated in the Philosophical Society founded by professor Thiodolf Rein, where he received the impulse for his later work on the development of moral ideas. While Rein and much of the academic establishment were strongly influenced by the German idealist tradition, Westermarck was drawn instead to British empiricism and the emerging discipline of empirical sociology.

Westermarck's doctoral thesis, The Origin of Human Marriage (1889), was shortly afterwards expanded into The History of Human Marriage, published in 1891 and later substantially revised in 1921.

Academic career

In 1892, Westermarck became a lecturer in sociology at the University of Helsinki. In 1904, he was appointed lecturer in sociology at the London School of Economics, and in 1907 promoted to professor, becoming one of the first Martin White Professors of Sociology (with Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse). He was the first to lecture on sociology in England, as well as in the Nordic countries.

In Helsinki, Westermarck applied for the philosophy chair vacated by Rein. Both the historico-philological section and the consistory placed him in the first position on the shortlist, but acting vice-chancellor J. R. Danielson-Kalmari intervened, apparently on language-political grounds, and appointed the Finnish-minded Arvi Grotenfelt instead. The subject was then split into theoretical and practical philosophy, and in 1906 Westermarck was called to the chair of practical philosophy, which also encompassed sociology. He occupied that chair until 1918, when he moved to Åbo Akademi University in Turku. An arrangement allowed him to hold his London and Helsinki (later Turku) professorships in parallel, and to spend part of each year in Morocco. In 1898 Westermarck first visited Morocco, and was immediately captivated by the country. At a later visit he bought a house in Tangier and learned the local Arabic dialect. He spent several extended periods in Morocco throughout the rest of his life, conducting fieldwork that gave his anthropological research a new direction — from broad comparative studies towards in-depth investigation of a single society.

While at Helsinki University, in 1905, he became the first chairman of the newly founded student association Prometheus, which worked for religious freedom. His students included Ragnar Numelin.

While still teaching philosophy in Turku, he helped found academic sociology in the United Kingdom, becoming the first Martin White Professor of Sociology (with Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse) in 1907 in the University of London.

Westermarck also served for some years, between 1918 and 1921, as Rector of the Åbo Akademi University. The rectorship passed to mathematics professor Severin Johansson in 1921, reportedly due to disagreements over the university's direction: Westermarck wanted Åbo Akademi to develop into a high-quality research university, while Johansson was supported by a faction that emphasised vocational training.

Later years

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) and Christianity and Morals (1939), the latter published in the year when he died. In 1929, he had published the English version, Memories of My Life of his autobiography, originally published in Swedish in 1927.

Westermarck died in Tenala on 3 September 1939, two days after the German invasion of Poland. According to his biographer Rolf Lagerborg it was the outbreak of war that broke his will to live.

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