[This "Note " " ' appeared in July 193 7 in issue 3-4 of Acephale, where it was listed in the table of contents as "A Declaration Relating to the Foundation of a College of Sociology . " Exactly a year later it would be reprinted, signed by Caillois, in the ' 'Introduction ' ' to the collection entitled ' 'For a College of So ciology ' ' published at the beginning (�f the NRF for July 1 938. At that time his text would have an additional .final paragraph , but, at the same time, the bunch of signatures would be removed. 2
The first issue of Acephale had appeared in June 1936, published by the ed itor G . L . M. (Guy Levis Mano) who, in October, was going to bring out Bataille 's Sacrifices, a small volume illustrated by Andre Masson, as was Acephale . Next to Bataille 's name two others were listed as directors of this re view : Georges Ambrosino and Pierre Klossowski .
At the same time (June 1936) the official publishing house of the Comnu1nist Party, ESI (Editions sociales intemationales), published the review Inquisitions ( "Organ of the Group for the Study (�f Human Phenomenology ") directed by Aragon , Caillois , Monnerot, Tzara - though Caillois seems to have been the one most responsible for starting it .
Jean Wahl compared these two contempormy reviews in a note in the NRF for August 1936: "Acephale, Bataille 's and Masson 's review appeared at the same
'This declaration was composed as early as March 1 937 . The College 's activity is to begin in Oc tober. To start with, it will consist in theoretical instruction in the form of weekly lectures. For the time being , correspondence should be addressed to G. B atail!e, 76 bis , me de Rennes (6c) .
4 D NOTE ON THE FO U N DATION OF A COLLEGE OF SOCIOLOGY
time as Inquisitions; Caillois is in search of rigor, Bataille appeals to the heart, to enthusiasm , to ecstasy, to earth and fire, to the guts . "
But Inquisitions would neither last the swnmer nor see a second issue . Cail lois has recounted, in an interview with Gilles Lapouge, his meeting Bataille around this time at the home of Jacques Lacan, and what ensued: ' ' We saw each other rather frequently aftenvard and we had the idea, with Michel Leiris, of founding a society for study, which would become the College of (La
Quinzaine litteraire, June 1 6-30, 1970) .
At the same time as Acephale, as if in its shadow, a secret society that was its namesake was the theater of activities still essentially secret today . Bataille was the founder and prime mover. But none of the other directing members of the College would join : Both Caillois and Leiris declined his invitations .
(Michel Fardoulis-Lagrange 's fictional account, G . B . ou un ami presomp tueux, published in i 969, describes Acephale, the secret society. In language whose surrealizing obscurity will disappoint the reader seeking very specific in formation, he recalls his relations with Bataille during this venture . The volume, published by the Editions "Solei! Nair, " is illustrated by isabelle Waldberg , who, according to the editor, Robert Lebel, would have been ' 'the only woman affiliated with Acephale . " it does seem, however, that Laure , Bataille 's friend who died in November 1938, also participated in the group 's activities [as the note published by Jerome Peignot in the volume, Ecrits , fragments , lettres by Laure (Paris, 1978) attests]. Fardoulis-Lagrange would speak once again of the secret society in an interview [ "Forgetting: A Divine Art, " Tel que] , 93 (Au tumn 1 982)]: " When all is said and done, the existence of a secret society is fruitless, even perhaps to be condemned. Mostly, they are subterfuges for escap
ing oneself; to privilege some secret shared by a comnumity " [p . 80]. Patrick Wahlberg, Georges Ambrosino, and, it seems, Henri Dubief also took part in these discreet fermentations . )
A s for Leiris, his name would never even appear in the table of contents of Acephale not even among the initial signers of the "Note " inaugurating the ac tivities of the College . (However, it should be noted that, in 1 938, the collection Acephale-whose only publication was this one volume-would publish his
Miroir de Ia tauromachie, which was also illustrated with Masson 's engravings . ) A s for Caillois, after the failure of Inqu i sitions, h e con tributed to Acephale . in
the same issue as the "Note , " there is a text of his entitled "Dionysiac Virtues " (the issue itself' is entitled "Dionysus "). in addition to them, the names of the ph ilosopher Jean Wahl and of the young sociologist Jules Monnerot appear as collfri butors to the revue .
"Dionysus " (July 1937) is the final issue of Acephal e . (Actually, another ap pears two years later, in June 1 939, bllt in an entirely different form -specifi cally, it is anonymous . The editor also is changed and the review is located at the
NOTE ON THE FOUNDATION OF A COLLEGE OF SOCIOLOGY 0 5
bookstore whose back mom welcomed the gatherings of the College of So ciology . ) Acephale , in some way, tumed over its territory to the College of Sociology, which would attempt without success to create a publication of its
OJI!Il . }
1 . A s soon a s particular importance i s attributed t o the study o f social stmctures, one sees that the few results obtained in this realm by science not onl y are gen
erally unknown but, moreover, directly contradict current ideas on these sub jects . These results appear at first extremely promising and open unexpected viewpoints for the study of human behavior. But they remain timid and incom plete , on the one hand , because science has been too limited to the analysis of so-called primitive societies , while ignoring modern societies; and on the other hand , because the discove1ies made have not modified the assumptions and atti tudes of research as profoundly as might be expected . It even seems that there are obstacles of a particular nature opposed to the development of an understanding of the vital elements of society: The necessmily contagious and activist character of the representations that this work brings to light seems responsible for this .
2 . It fol lows that there is good reason for those who contemplate following in vestigations as far as possible in this direction , to develop a moral community , different in part from that ordinarily uniting scholars and bound , precisely , to the virulent character of the realm studied and of the laws that little by little are re vealed to govern it.
This community , nonetheless , is as free of access as the established scientific community , and anyone can contribute a personal point of view to it, without re gard for the particular concern inducing one to get a more precise knowledge of the essential aspects of social existence . No matter what one' s origin and goal , this preoccupation alone is considered to be enough to create the necessary ties for common action .
3 . The precise object of the contemplated activity can take the name of Sacred Sociology , implying the study of all manifestations of social existence where the active presence of the sacred is clear. It intends to establish in this way the points of coincidence between the fundamental obsessive tendencies of individual psy chology and the principal structures that govern social organization and are in command of its revolutions .
GEoRGES AMBROSINO , GEORGES BATAI LLE , RoGER CAJLLOis , PIERRE KLossowsKI , PmRRE LIBRA , JuLEs MoNNEROT .