Les Le Bon, Gustave 1841-1931 creator text utu 2025 monographic fr 1 online resource : multiple file formats "Les opinions et les croyances : genèse; évolution" by Gustave Le Bon is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. The work explores the psychological foundations and development of opinions and beliefs, focusing on how they originate, how they differ from knowledge, and the laws that govern them. Its topic is the genesis and evolution of belief systems, both at the level of individuals and societies, and their powerful influence on history, culture, and human behavior. The opening of the book lays out Le Bon's intention to distinguish between belief and knowledge, arguing that belief emerges unconsciously and is largely unaffected by reason, while knowledge relies on rational, conscious processes. He contends that beliefs play a more significant role than knowledge in shaping history, social dynamics, and individual behavior. Le Bon reviews existing psychological methods, finds them inadequate to address the roots of belief, and proposes his own approach, focusing on the interplay of affective and intellectual factors—such as pleasure, pain, desire, habit, and the different forms of unconscious and conscious life. He begins to build a theoretical framework for understanding the emotional and subconscious origins of belief, the structure of personality, and the persistence and function of collective ideals and values in society. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Release date is 2025-04-29 Laurent Vogel, Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica)) Originally published: Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1911 Belief and doubt Superstition Public opinion BF Paris: Ernest Flammarion, 1911 11016273 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75989 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75989 UtSlPG 260607 20260610134746.0 75989