DURKHEIM CONSTANT
Emile Durkheim, a pioneer in the field of sociology, pointed out that there is a limit to the amount of deviant behaviour a community can afford to recognise. As behaviour worsens, the community adjusts its standards so that conduct once thought to be reprehensible is no longer deemed so. Expectations are lowered to the point that behaviour once considered to be abnormal is now seen as normal. At the root of Durkheim's Constant is the vice of pusillanimity, which St. Thomas Aquinas has defined as "falling short of that which we can do because we refuse to tend to that which empowers to do it." At this point the virtue of courage comes in to remind us: "One of my (courage's) most important roles is to keep you from falling short. Use me (courage) to pull together that which empowers you to live up to your potential
Emile Durkheim, a pioneer in the field of sociology, pointed out that there is a limit to the amount of deviant behaviour a community can afford to recognise. As behaviour worsens, the community adjusts its standards so that conduct once thought to be reprehensible is no longer deemed so. Expectations are lowered to the point that behaviour once considered to be abnormal is now seen as normal. At the root of Durkheim's Constant is the vice of pusillanimity, which St. Thomas Aquinas has defined as "falling short of that which we can do because we refuse to tend to that which empowers to do it." At this point the virtue of courage comes in to remind us: "One of my (courage's) most important roles is to keep you from falling short. Use me (courage) to pull together that which empowers you to live up to your potential
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