The social Theory of Georg Simmel

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1024612627

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-166627

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Spykman, Nicholas J. http://d-nb.info/gnd/124229867

Title:: The social Theory of Georg Simmel

Place of publication:: Chicago

Publisher:: Univ. of Chicago Press.

Year of publication:: 1925

Scope:: XXIX, 297 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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4d GENERAL INTRODUCTION 11 This idea of the relativity of truth should not be under- stood as an approximation to an otherwise independent concept of absolute truth, but as the essence of truth it- self, as the way in which ideas become true. It does not mean a knowledge of the truth from which more might have been expected, but rather, on the contrary, the posi- tive fulfilment and validity of its concept. The truth is not valid in spite of its relativity, but because of its relativity.’ Not only does empirical knowledge result from specific normative functions on the data of experience, but each field of mental activity constructs a picture of the world according to categories of its own. Art, religion, meta- physics, and science result from specific attitudes toward the world, from specific ways of dealing with things. The specific functional, formal activity of the mind is for Sim- mel the essence and significance of these fields. Their true value lies, not in their content, not in the religious dogma or in the metaphysical system, but in their function for life. They have value as functions of life. In the case of metaphysics, this differentiation between the function and the content enables Simmel to give to the metaphysical tendency, or to the process or mental atti- tude which results from it, a value and significance which remain untouched by all the contradictions and untenable points in its content. Philosophy as a thought form is un- prejudiced against all contents and obtains a flexibility and a possibility of extension which is unthinkable as long as one searches for the essence of philosophy in the factual content of its problems. This differentiation therefore means more than a mere differentiation; it means also an accentuation. It means emphasizing the functional over the substantial aspect. It means a change in conception from metaphysics as dog- - Phil. des Geldes, pp. 78-82.

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