Emile Durkheim (15 April 1858-15 November 1917) was a French philosopher and a "father of sociology" alongside Max Weber and Karl Marx. Born to a Jewish family in Epinal, Lorraine, Durkheim wrote on how societies could continue their traditions in the modern era, and he set up the first European department of sociology after writing The Rules of Sociological Method in 1895. Durkheim promoted sociology, religion, and economics in his works, and he was a reformer of positivism and the father of corporate solidarism.