226 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL 
and capacities, and a specific possession exerts therefore 
also a specific influence on the possessor. Actual possession 
involves a reciprocal interaction between the qualities of 
the possessor and those of the object possessed. This inter- 
action and mutual determination can be more or less close. 
The possession of objects which have a purely aesthetic 
significance or a highly specialized intellectual significance, 
or which can be obtained only with great difficulty, will in- 
volve a close interdependence. There will be a scale of ob- 
jects involving for their possession a decreasing interde- 
pendence, until the final stage is reached in the possession 
of money. The possession of money requires no specific 
qualities and leaves the possessor completely free and inde- 
pendent. 
This independence is manifest first of all in the acquisi- 
tion. The peculiar abstract character of money makes it 
possible for all forms of activity and all kinds of talent to 
lead to its acquisition. It does not require a special dex- 
terity, but can be obtained by dexterity in the handling 
of other objects. As all roads once led to Rome, so all eco- 
nomic roads now lead to money. 
But this independence is also manifest in the aspect of 
enjoyment. All other forms of possession demand specific 
qualities and characteristics on the part of the possessor. 
Money makes no such demands and places no such limi- 
tations. It therefore increases the liberty and the freedom 
of the individual, not only in the negative sense, but also 
in the positive sense. 
To possess an object means to be able to do with it 
what one wants, to be able to express one’s will in and 
through and with that object. We possess our body in so 
far as we express our will in and through and with our 
body, in so far as it obeys our will. We express our tend- 
encies and characteristics in our surroundings by means