Any unit transcending two members becomes an intrusive third element

Evidence

It is obvious that the intimacy of the dyad is closely tied up with its sociological specialty, not to form a unit transcending the two members. For, in spite of the fact that the two individuals would be its only participants, this unit would nevertheless constitute a third element which might interpose itself between them. The larger the group is, the more easily does it form an objective unit up and above its members, and the less intimate does it become: the two characteristics are intrinsically con- nected. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 3811

Categorization

• DEFINE: The triad concept restated precisely: a group identity interposes as a third element even when only two participate.
• XREF: Directly feeds the Raskolnikov reading — his dyadic guilt needs a third party (Porfiry, Sonya); here the third element ‘interposes itself between them,’ which is exactly what externalization requires.
• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that a merely-two-person unit creates an objective third is dense enough to reward long reflection.