We are now in a position to give what I hope will prove to be an authoritative answer to one of the main questions which I posed in the introduction to Part I of this book; namely, how to translate into English the tricky French phrase la conscience collective ou commune and whether this can be done at all. As we have seen the only thing that separates Durkheim's concept of the collective consciousness of society from a more conventional discussion of morality is the emphasis that he places on the all-important social dimension of this question. Durkheim insists that any truly moral person must be fully and completely aware – that is to say, conscious of – the all-important social reasons why they behave in the way that they do. Merely to act without understanding will not do – or will no longer do – for the sophisticated morality required for a highly industrialized society characterized by a detailed division of labour. This then provides us with the first reason we have for always preferring to use the English word ‘consciousness’ when translating the French phrase la conscience collective ou commune into English: it would simply be perverse in the context of Durkheim's sociology to use any other expression than this.