66 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
tive in palm trees build these palm trees into characteristic 
forms which are different from those of other trees, yet 
one does not speak of the specific laws of palm growth. 
Historical material develops into specific forms in a similar 
fashion, but there are no specific laws of historical growth. 
There is not a second law of a higher order above the 
laws of the first order which regulate the movements of the 
primary elements. The only realities in the development 
of a historical complex are the movements of the primary 
elements and the laws that regulate these movements. If 
the sum of these movements is viewed as a synthetic unity, 
we cannot claim a new law for that unity as an independent 
complex, because every composing movement is already 
determined by and related to its cause.! 
Historical laws, therefore, are related to the actually 
effective laws as philosophic knowledge is related to exact 
knowledge. They are formulations for occurrences and re- 
lationships which resemble philosophic speculations, and, 
like the latter, they may be regarded either as forerunners 
of exact knowledge, as preliminary formulations, or as sat- 
isfactory projections of the actuality on a distinct and dif- 
ferent plane. Viewed as the precursors of exact knowledge, 
they have a value only in relation to exact science. Viewed 
as satisfactory projections of the actuality, they have a val- 
ue in and for themselves independent of any correspond- 
ence to objective reality. 
Considered as anticipations of the exact knowledge of 
the historical occurrence, the historical laws are but the 
first steps. We are forced to stop first at certain regularities 
on the surface of historical life until the laws which describe 
the actual relations between the smallest elements are 
known. Without further investigation these regularities 
are formulated in abstract rules which in a sense explain 
1 Probl. der Gesch., pp. 77-85.