240 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL

continuity. The object can break loose from its position
as intermediary and destroy the bridge over which passes
the road of cultivation.
The metaphysical question regarding the subjectobject
 relationship finds here a historical answer. While
the metaphysical answer to that question usually maintains
 that a sharp opposition and contrast between them is
incorrect, the concept of culture implies a complete opposition
 of the two parties. It implies a supersubjective logic
of these mental products by means of which the subject
transcends itself in order to reach itself.
The great task of mind, to conquer the object by creating
 itself as object and to return to itself with this enrichment,
 often succeeds. But it must pay for this self-development
 with the tragic chance that these independent and
self-sufficient worlds may develop with a logic of their own
which will withdraw them farther and farther from the possibility
 of cultural reassimilation.
The style of social life is characterized by the relative
proportion between objective and subjective culture. In
small groups under primitive conditions, the relation is
nearly a one-to-one correspondence. The objective cultural
 possibilities do not greatly outrun the subjective cultural
 values which are actually realized. With an increase
in the cultural level and an extension of the culture circle,
the two will grow apart. In large groups, only a part of the
objective values become subjective values. The cultural
possessions of the group are much greater than the cultural
 possessions of any single individual. The cultural
creation of each single individual still enters into the objective
 social culture, but the totality of the latter does not
enter completely into the former. The subjective culture
lags behind the objective culture.
This differentiation and objectivation of culture is due