2 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
plies that no single one of them by itself alone can lead to 
a fundamental understanding of this social actuality. Any 
one science resulting from these viewpoints cannot, in and 
for itself, explain society. When the object is to under- 
stand the social actuality, the three viewpoints are mu- 
tually supporting and complementary to one another. They 
are not self-sufficient. A fundamental understanding of 
the actuality requires the application of all three modes of 
approach. 
The first category of cognition regards the social con- 
tent as the product of processes in the individual conscious- 
ness of the elements. It aims at a psychological explana- 
tion of that content. In case of an economic content, it 
would search for the impulses, desires, aims, and purposes 
which lead men to economic activity. 
The second viewpoint regards society with reference to 
the interrelations and interactions between individuals. 
It views the social content as the product of the socialized 
group of individuals. It leads to an investigation of the so- 
cial products apart from the individual contributions and 
the objective factual significance. This mode of approach 
might be called the sociological method. 
The third category of cognition regards the social con- 
tent, not as a product of individual contributions nor as a 
product of the socialized group, but with reference to its 
objective factual aspect. 
All social activity which manifests itself in certain ma- 
terial must adapt itself to the laws and inherent charac- 
teristics of that material. The forms of political organiza- 
tion and economic production, the law, the arts, and lan- 
guage have laws and a logical development of their own. 
It is through these inherent characteristics that they bind 
the social forces within certain limits and guide them in 
certain directions. Society, like the architect, is limited by