In "The Rules of Sociological Method" Durkheim laid out a theory of sociology as "the science of social facts". He considered social facts to "consist of representations and actions" which meant that "they cannot be confused with organic phenomena, nor with physical phenomena, which have no existence save in and through the individual consciousness." Durkheim says that a social fact is a thing that many people do very similarly because the socialized community that they belong to has influenced them to do these things.