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 subject- 
object relationship finds here a historical answer. While 
the metaphysical answer to that question usually main- 
tains that a sharp opposition and contrast between them is 
incorrect, the concept of culture implies a complete opposi- 
tion 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 creat- 
ing itself as object and to return to itself with this enrich- 
ment, often succeeds. But it must pay for this self-develop- 
ment 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 pos- 
sibility 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 cul- 
tural possibilities do not greatly outrun the subjective cul- 
tural 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 cul- 
tural possessions of any single individual. The cultural 
creation of each single individual still enters into the ob- 
jective 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