218 THE SOCIAL THEORY OF GEORG SIMMEL
For the purpose of this study Simmel’s Philosophy of
Money is best suited to illustrate his conception of the
function of a social metaphysics as distinct from the function
 of a social science or a philosophic inquiry into the
presuppositions of the social sciences. As metaphysics, it
traces the relations of money to all the phenomena of social
and cultural life and interprets modern civilization in
terms of money as its functional category and symbol.