Der Weltverkehr und seine Mittel

The social Theory of Georg Simmel

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 100624364X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-33077

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Merckel, Curt http://d-nb.info/gnd/1024684814

Title:: Der Weltverkehr und seine Mittel

Edition:: Zehnte, durch einen Nachtrag ergänzte Auflage, Sonderausgabe aus dem Buch der Erfindungen, Gewerbe und Industrien

Place of publication:: Leipzig

Publisher:: Verlag von Otto Spamer

Year of publication:: 1913

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (X, 981 Seiten)

Digitisation:: 2017

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Wasserstraßen

Collection:: Economics Books

58 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL society for granted. In this field two different kinds of problems are dealt with, although in actual treatment they are usually not kept separate and distinct. Dissatisfaction with the fragmentary character of sci- entific knowledge and the early exhaustion of the actually demonstrable data and the series of provable facts lead to an attempt at completion by means of speculation. Specu- lation is also the means by which the disconnected and incoherent fields of empirical knowledge are combined into a unitary synthesis. In this field the results of the differ- ent social sciences are correlated with the results of other sciences. In this field the metaphysical need for a unitary picture of the social manifoldness is satisfied by synthesiz- ing the fragmentary results of the empirical inquiries or by interpreting a whole range of phenomena in terms of a se- lected phenomenon as its symbol and essence.! Apart from this metaphysical inquiry which is direct- ed toward the degree of knowledge, there is a second meta- physical inquiry which deals with existence in a different dimension. It deals with problems and questions regarding the meaning, the purpose, the absolute substance, and the religious significance of social life. It results from a spirit- ual attitude which asks questions like the following: Is society the goal and the purpose of individual existence or a means for the enrichment of individual life? Is it, per- haps, instead of being a means, an obstruction to the reali- zation of individual perfection? Is the value of society to be found in its functional life, in the formation of an objec- tive spirit, or in the ethical qualities which it calls forth in the individual? These questions cannot be answered by means of ascer- taining facts. They aim at a valuation of observed facts and at the construction of an inclusive view out of the un- 1 For an interpretation of modern society in terms of money as its symbol and essential category, see Book III.

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