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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THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL of morals and aesthetics, of religion and the function of money. He has treated the most varied subjects, the most divergent aspects of social life, has thrown new light on old problems, and given a new approach to the interpreta- tion of modern culture in all its phases. Yet Simmel has not given nor even attempted a system of social philoso- phy. His period was not a period of systematic philosophy. He was primarily a fine and subtle analyst rather than a synthetic builder. This, however, does not mean that there is no unity in his work, but it is a functional rather than a structural unity. What binds together his essays on the most diverse subjects is his treatment, his mode of approach, his own characteristic philosophy. There is no immediate relation between the contents of his works, but there is a decisive anity in the form of his thinking, although one can dis- tinguish a gradual development and clarification. [t is possible to distinguish three phases in the develop- ment of Simmel’s thought. During the first period of his life he was primarily occupied with the methodology and the presuppositions of the social sciences. During the second period he contributed a number of valuable essays containing philosophic interpretations of modern civiliza- tion. This period culminated in his metaphysics of culture. During his last period his interest was centered in a meta- physics of life. What Kant had done for knowledge in general, Simmel andertook for our specific knowledge of the socio-historical reality. Kant had criticized the claim of rationalism that clearness and distinctness of thought is a criterion for ob- jective validity, and had pointed out that there are non- empirical conditions of experience. Simmel denounced the claims of rationalism to give an adequate account of the socio-historical objectivity, and defended the social sci- r »

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