GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Synopsis oF SiMMeL’s PHILOSOPHY

HIS study has been written for a specific purpose,
namely, to indicate Simmel’s conception of the relations
 between the different fields of theoretic inquiry
into the socio-historical actuality, to give his contributions
to the methodology of the social sciences, and to illustrate
his conception of sociology as a science. To obtain that
end, different passages from his numerous works have been
lifted out of their immediate setting and integrated in a
more or less unified structure on the basis of his fundamental
 conception regarding the relation of philosophy to science.

It is hoped that this form of presentation will serve
the particular aim in view, even if it does not do full justice
 to Simmel’s work. He was one of the most interesting
representatives of the philosophy of the early twentieth
century and, as such, deserves attention from a point of
view quite different from the one from which this study
has been written. It is not our task to give an interpretation
 and evaluation of his work with reference to metaphysical
 problems, but before we proceed with our specific
study, we must briefly sketch an outline of his general
philosophy. This will indicate the main characteristics of
his thought and serve as a background for an understanding
 of his specific contributions to our field.
Georg Simmel was primarily a social philosopher. His
problems were not problems of conceptual abstractions.
They arose out of an effort to reach an understanding of
the socio-historical actualities, of art and economic values,

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