We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part I - The Concept of the Collective Consciousness of Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
In Part I of this book I have attempted to provide an authoritative account of Durkheim's usage of the concept of the (or as I think we may now say, a) common or collective consciousness of society. In order to do this I have outlined in some detail Durkheim's general concept of morality, as explained by him in his still relatively little-known book Moral Education, and I have drawn from this his particular discussion of the concept of the or a collective consciousness of society. I have done this in order to see if it is possible to translate authoritatively into English the supposedly untranslatable sociological concept la conscience collective ou commune without losing any part of the meaning that Durkheim intended by this term in the original French – a nuance that would perhaps only be understood by a native French speaker and a professional sociologist at that – and I have argued that this is possible. Absolutely no meaning is lost, I claim, but rather clarity gained, by the translation of this phrase as ‘the common or collective consciousness’ of society.
I have also argued strongly for the view that we should always prefer to use the term ‘consciousness’ to the term ‘conscience’, and that no meaning is lost in English by doing so.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
