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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PREFACE still to be obtained. It will be the great task of the twenti- eth century. But that liberation of the individual from the clutches of the great leviathan implies a mastery over that leviathan. The liberation of the individual from those impersonal forces means a mastery over those impersonal forces. It means the substitution of a rational social structure for the uncontrolled and uncontrollable social world in which we live. That liberation and mastery can be obtained. What is needed is an earnest desire to do so on the part of the indi- viduals composing society, a consensus of opinion among the majority with regard to the ends to be obtained, and an adequate knowledge with regard to the means to these ends. The first two points do not immediately concern us here. Our problem is the problem of the adequacy of our knowl- edge about social life and the means of obtaining it. It con- cerns the methodology of the social sciences. It is undoubtedly true that there is an approximately adequate knowledge available for certain problems which are left unsolved on account of prejudice and selfishness; but let us not overstate the case. Our knowledge and fun- damental understanding of social life is hardly sufficient to guarantee the desired results from its application to the handling of the great social problems. A few enthusiastic social reformers have sufficient religious faith in their own doctrines to promise us a happier and better world if we will only follow their suggestions, but it is perhaps just as well for the world and for their own reputation that they are not too hard pressed to make good. The Russian ex- periment has not been completely convincing. Among the more earnest students of social life there is a growing realization of the inadequacy of our knowledge a. QC Nn Qi r 2 Qu L, SC 0D? pt Qu "® ni (] 17 9 . q 17 h 2 r 0 f.

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