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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SOCIOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY 61 Ng he If it is formulated in terms of a narrative, it is usually an interpretation of occurrences in terms of volition and motives, either personal or collective. In that case the epistemological inquiry will be mainly an inquiry into the psychological presuppositions. If it is formulated in terms of historical laws, it is usually an interpretation in terms of an inherent dialectic of social institutions and sociological structures. In that case these structures and institutions are conceived as purely factual potencies. They are sup- posed to change their forms independently of the conscious volition of their actual bearers. These may stimulate or retard the movement, but they cannot prevent it or bring it about. The explanatory causes are then assumed to lie, not in the volition of individuals, but in the inherent logic of these forms and institutions, which expresses itself with mechanical necessity. Here motive and volition, either per- sonal or collective, are left outside of the interpretation, and the epistemological inquiry will therefore be mainly concerned with the a priori categories which make possible a reading of historical laws into successive historical phe- nomena. Most histories use both forms of interpretation, and the epistemological inquiry into their underlying as- sumptions will therefore deal with both types of presuppo- sitions.! The metaphysics of history is directed, on the one hand, toward the completion of knowledge and, on the other hand, toward the valuation of its content. It asks whether the stages of social evolution are analogous to the stages of cosmic evolution in a way which suggests a single for- mula. But, apart from existential judgments, it also asks for value judgments. It questions whether each single his- torical fact and occurrence has a value in and for itself or only in relation to the whole historical movement. It asks L Probl. der Gesch., chap. i, pp. 1-74.

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