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 func- 
tion 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.