The nature of this fear, manifesting itself in remorse or shame, of this sense of decency giving rise to moral consciousness, is easy for us to understand on account of the systematic treatment Mind has received in subsequent studies, above all in the works of Croce and Gentile. This fear is what we usually call self-consciousness; and when we say that a child has grown self-conscious we mean that he thinks too much of the opinion of the people who surround him. Now in this case common language, as in many instances, lays a trap for our understanding, since at first sight it seems to imply that the child’s uneasiness of manners is due to a self-centred conception of himself; whereas it is in fact his realising the importance of his surroundings that makes him wish to please his elders, to attract their notice, or to appease their indignation when he feels guilty. It is, therefore, the consciousness of the non-self that we term self-consciousness. But this trap is easily avoided, for philosophy knows nowadays that it is impossible to reach self-consciousness except through the conscience of that which we are not, for _We_ without the rest of the world in opposition to which we are _We_, means nothing at all. Thus the self-awe in which Vico sees the first origin of society is the consciousness man has of his not-self, of the exterior world, or, to use an image, of the immense shadow that surrounds him and is in reality his own negativity, all that which he is not. So that if man knows shame and remorse in the most absolute solitude it is because in his own heart he feels the presence of a nameless Power.