SOURCE: "The Work of Edward Westermarck," in Acta Philosophica Fennica, Vol. 34, 1982, pp. 654-67.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1945, Levi-Strauss memorializes the recently deceased Westermarck as the spokesman for an era of sociological thought.

I

The death of Edward Westermarck was felt by all sociologists with a special sadness. It awakened memories, it provoked reflections, which infinitely expanded the bounds of the very real sorrow caused by the passing of a master who was among the greatest of his time.

In the case of Westermarck, indeed, it was not simply a renowned scholar who passed away; an entire era of sociological thought came to an end. And that on two accounts. Westermarck was the last and most famous representative of the English Anthropological School; he embodied, with an exceptional, militant power, a current of thought which renewed our social and moral understanding, and out of which grew...