210 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL
with that of their predecessors, individualistic and cosmopolitan.
 Their aim was a complete development and selfrealization
 of the individual. They conceived of companionship
 with others only as a means to that end. On the
other hand, however, they conceived a fundamental equality
 and fraternity which united all individuals in a common
 humanity. The socio-historical process had disrupted
the small social circles of Greek life. The ethical interests
formerly devoted to the city-state now attached themselves
 to the individual on the one hand and to an all-inclusive
 humanity on the other hand. Christianity is but
the religious formulation of this same fundamental formal
relationship. It gave the human being a fully independent
and autonomous individual soul, but bound him, on the
other hand, in one inclusive circle with all humanity. It
held him individually completely responsible for all his
acts and tried to instal in him at the same time a spirit of
self-sacrifice and a devotion to the largest possible circle.
The expansion of the social circle in which the individnal
 participates will destroy, on the one hand, his provincialism,
 his sectarianism, and his narrow group egoism.
On the other hand, it will stimulate both an individual
egoism and a wider social sympathy and solidarity. But
if, owing to peculiar circumstances, the latter cannot develop,
 if the social circle has become so large that all direct
personal relationships practically drop out, then there remains
 only an unrestrained individual egoism and ruthless
self-assertion. The introduction of money has brought
about such results in the economic world. It has liberated
the individual from the narrow bonds of his guild and even
from those of his national group and has created a worldeconomy;
 but, on the other hand, it has favored an economic
 egoism in all degrees of ruthlessness. The wider the
economic sphere for which a man produces, the less does