SPRINGER BRIEFS IN SOCIOLOGY Ferdinand Fellmann Rethinking Georg Simmel’s Social Philosophy 1 23 SpringerBriefs in Sociology SpringerBriefs in Sociology are concise summaries of cutting-edge research and practicalapplicationsacrossthefieldofsociology.Thesecompactmonographsare refereedbyandundertheeditorialsupervisionofscholarsinSociologyorcognate fields. Volumesare50to125pages(approximately20,000-70,000words),witha clearfocus.Theseriescoversarangeofcontentfromprofessionaltoacademicsuch assnapshotsofhotand/oremergingtopics,in-depthcasestudies,andtimelyreports ofstate-of-theartanalyticaltechniques. Thescopeoftheseriesspanstheentirefield of Sociology, with a view to significantly advance research. 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Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/10410 Ferdinand Fellmann ’ Rethinking Georg Simmel s Social Philosophy FerdinandFellmann (deceased) Münster,Germany ISSN2212-6368 ISSN2212-6376 (electronic) SpringerBriefsinSociology ISBN978-3-030-57350-8 ISBN978-3-030-57351-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57351-5 ©TheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicencetoSpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2021 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether thewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseof illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Introduction Georg Simmel Up to Date GeorgSimmel(1858–1918)wasoneofthefirstGermansociologistsconcernedwith relationships—especially interaction—and was known as a methodological relationist.Thisapproachisbasedontheideathatinteractionexistsinallfacetsof sociallife.Simmelwasmostlyinterestedindualisms,conflicts,andcontradictionsin all domains of the social world. Strangely enough, Simmel, as the founder of relational sociology, is more present in American than in European sociology. Reservations on the part of his German colleagues are most likely due to the unprofessionalaspectsofSimmel’sstyleoflivingandthinking.HelivedinBerlin, intheculturalfermentoftheperiod(from theturnofthecenturytoWorldWarI). HislecturesattheUniversityofBerlinwerefrequentedbyabroadpublic,mostlyby intellectualwomenwhowerefascinatedbytheauraofSimmel’spersonality. The German philosopher and journalist Theodor Lessing, put to death by the Nazisin1933,criticizedSimmelforproducingaphilosophyabouteverything,about the handle of a jug, about threshold, about flirtation, etc.: Was nicht ist, wird ersimmelt—“What does not exist is Simmelized.” This witty modification of the LatinadagequaenonsuntsimuloshedslightonthevariedtopicsSimmelhappened tobeworkingon.Hedidnothavethesociologist’squantitative bentbutlookedat social facts intuitively from the subjective perspective of his ambivalent feeling oflife. In contrast to the research programs based on surveys and statistics, Simmel’s method of selecting interesting phenomenon from the social world is nowadays more relevant than ever. The changing structure of the modern world is indeed an exciting time in sociological theory, which searches for new perspectives on indi- vidualization.Combiningobjectivityandsubjectivity,Simmelpioneeredthegenetic methodofresearch,whichsurpassesthepositivisticcollectingofdataandpavesthe wayforanewphenomenologicalandexistentialanalysisofsociallife.Iwouldlike to refer to Simmel’s method as “genetic sociology,” in analogy to the genetic v vi Introduction phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. “Genetic” is not to be understood in the biologicalsenseasreferringtogenesbutinthesenseofbecomingorofgenesis[1]. Simmel’s Philosophy of Life Whereas American sociology is more interested in the formal aspects of social interaction, European philosophy of culture stresses the historical context and the personal frame of Simmel’s social philosophy. His personality was dominated by eroticexcitementsdrapedbytheveilofintellectualism.Simmelandhiswifeliveda bourgeoislife;theirhomebecameavenueforcultivatedgatheringsinthetradition of the salon. The couple exemplified the intellectual marriage of the period, cele- brating the freedom of independent partners, as Sartre and de Beauvoir did after WorldWarII.Thiswasawaytojustifythenewlygainedsexualliberty.Simmelhad asonwithhiswifeandmaintainedalifelongintimaterelationshipwiththepoetess Gertrud Kantorowicz. He had a daughter with Kantorowicz, but concealed her existencefromhiswife.Angela(1907–1944)wasborninBolognaandwasbaptized AngiBolzano.Hedidnotwanttomeethisdaughter,andthemotherwasnotallowed tobringherdaughtertotheirmeetings.Simmel’sattitudetowardhisdaughterleaves open several interpretations. Margarete Susman, a good friend of Gertrud Kantorowicz, writes that Simmel felt guilty about not having a relationship with his daughter [2]. Although Simmel refrained from seeing his daughter, Susman claims, “this unspoken yet assumed secret, which Simmel kept out of love for his wife,slowlytarnishedtheirbeautifulmarriage”[3].Amorepsychologicalinterpre- tationregardingtheambivalentnatureofSimmel’spersonalitycouldbethathewas notreadytobeconfrontedwithhisownunboundsexualdrive. Of course, I do not adhere to an outdated biographism. In light of this personal background,though,Ihypothesizethatsexuality,themostgeneralandmostprivate featureofpersonality,isattherootofallculturalformsforSimmel.Hisqualitative approach is centered on erotic love based on male–female polarity, which implies thatmanandwomanareequalinrightbutdifferentincharacter.Inhislateessayof 1918 entitled “The Conflict in Modern Culture” Simmel demonstrates how the sexual revolution enabled the cultural evolution to achieve a higher level in the relation between life and form: “Genuine erotic life in fact flows naturally in individualchannels.Oppositionisdirectedagainstformsbecausetheyforceitinto generalizedschemataandtherebyoverpoweritsuniqueness”[4].Thereis,however, one schema that unites the individual and the general side of life and that may thereforebecalledatranscendentalschema:theschemaofEros. Inviewofthiseroticundercurrent,Simmel’simageofhumansisambivalent.He always considers both sides of every human trait, which are related in dialectical reciprocity.Hisdialecticalapproachismultidirectional;itintegratesfactsandvalues andrejectstheideathattherearehard,dividinglinesbetweensocialphenomenaand individualconsciousness.Lifeisacontinualflux,butthisfluxisofteninterruptedby unforeseeneventsanddramaticchangesofmood.Simmel’slatephilosophyoflifeis Introduction vii thereforenotaspositiveasthatoftheFrenchphilosopherHenriBergson,whomhe admired. Simmel considers not only the future of evolution but also the origins of culture.Heisdeeplyconcernedwithboththeconflictsandcontradictionsthatmake humanexistencedifficult. What This Book Is About This book takes up the main topics of Simmel’s thought as well as the different stages of its development. The topics are presented in their historical context, and their influence on other sociologists and philosophers, especially in Germany, is emphasized.Halfacenturyago,inhisconclusionoftheclassicalmonographGeorg Simmel (1984, revised edition 2002), David Frisby traced possible lines of reassessment in the hope that this may take place in the near future. But Frisby’s hope has not yet become a reality, despite the secondary literature published on Simmelinthelastfewyears,e.g.,GregorFitzi,MatthieuAmat,andDavidRuggieri, among others [5]. The contributions highlight a certain aspect of Simmel’s work, such as the cultural turn of modern social research or the defense of relationism againstthereproachofrelativism,butnonearereallygroundbreakingbecausethey refertoknowntopicsthathavebeendealtwithforsometimenow.Thisbookisan attempttoshowthatanewlookatSimmelisrealizableinafieldthatliesoutsidethe knowntopicsofSimmel’ssociology:Eroticlife. Inthefollowingchapters,Simmel’s“viewoflife”(Lebensanschauung)isexpli- catedusinggenetic-phenomenologicaldescriptions.Sociologistsboundtoso-called socialfactsareunabletograspthemanydifferentlevelsofsocialinteractionthatare working independently yet interlinked. Lower levels of existence do not lose their importance but continue to function as essential components in the higher levels. This bottom-up process is the “red line” of our investigation, which, in analogy to Simmel’s empirical reasoning, tends to surpass itself. This study also includes an evaluation of his ideas from the point of view of modern cultural philosophy and philosophicalanthropology. ThebookstartswiththeculturalturnthatmadeSimmelthefounderofrelational sociology. Instead of beginning with the isolated individual, Simmel emphasizes intimaterelationsasthefundamentalstratumofhumanculture(Chap.1).Formsof sociability is the topic of Chap. 2. These forms represent a higher level with new laws of interaction, but they lead back to unconscious processes, and the phenom- enonofseductioninitsbroadestsenseishighlighted.Therelationofseductiontothe fallinJudeo-Christian tradition isparticularlyimportant for understandingSimmel asaJewishthinker.EuropeanandAmericanformsofculturalizationarecompared inChap.3.ThenewattitudeoftheUSAtowardEuropeisdiscussedintermsofthe currentvaluediscussion,whichleadsbacktoSimmel’sconceptofobjectivevalues. Chap.4presentsSimmel’scompletetreatmentofsexandintimacyinviewofwhat hecalls“realeroticlife,”whichhasautopiantint.Thedevelopmentfromsexuality to eroticism is considered the main presupposition of Simmel’s view of modern viii Introduction culture.Eroticismplaysasignificantroleinmetropolitanlife,accordingtoSimmel, whichhasbroughtaboutgreatchangesinthelifestylesofbothmenandwomenand hasaffectedtheirself-validation.Howidentityandindividualityinteractisdiscussed inChap.5.Simmel’sconceptofpersonalityleadstoahigherlevelofhumanbeliefin light of the idea of the personality of God. The highest level of the process of individuation is ethics. From the genetic point of view, Simmel rejected the categorial imperative of Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy. The transformation of normative ethics into the law of the individual is the climax of Simmel’s late philosophyoflife(Chap.6). Simmelneverpresentedhisthoughtsasasystem;hecommunicatedhisideasin stand-alonefragments.Forexample,hisanalysisofflirtation,whichheviewsasthe alternationbetweenconsentandrefusal,seemstohavenoconnectionwithhislawof theindividual.Uponcloserinspection,though,itbecomesclearthatflirtationisnot only evident in the coquette, but also in the attitude that corresponds to individual ethics. Seen as a whole, all these topics are finally brought together in Simmel’s image of the human as a conflictual and ambiguous being in need of existential justification. Simmel’s programmatic formula “from more life to more than life” refers to any form of human interaction beyond mere self-preservation. In modern society, erotic and aesthetic experiences combine, a mixture that becomes synony- mouswiththeultimatelevelofhumanculture.Finally,Chap.7isintendedtoberead asasummaryofSimmel’scultural anthropologyandphilosophy oflife, neither of whichhaslostrelevance. References 1. Daniel Sousa, “Phenomenological Psychology: Husserl’s Static and Genetic Methods,”JournalPhenomenologicalPsychology,45,pp.27–60(2014). 2. MargareteSusman,“ErinnerungenanGeorgSimmel,”inKurtGassen,Buchdes DankesanGeorgSimmel.Briefe,Erinnerungen,Bibliographie.Zuseinem100. Geburtstagam1.März1958.(Berlin:Duncker&Humblot,1993). 3. Ibid.,282. 4. Georg Simmel, “The Conflict in Modern Culture,” in Donald N. Levine, On IndividualityandSocialForms(Chicago:UniversityofChicago,1971),389. 5. See Gregor Fitzi, The Challenge of Modernity. Simmel’s Sociological Theory (NewYork:Routledge,2019);MattieuAmat,Lerelationismephilosophiquede GeorgSimmel(Paris:HonoreChampion,2018);DavideRuggieri,Lasociologia relationalediGeorgSimmel(Mimesis,2016). Contents 1 SociologyReconsidered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 FormsofSociability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3 FormsofCulturalization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4 IntimateRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 5 PersonalityandIndividualDifferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 6 IndividualEthics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 7 HumanNature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 ix