Extreme individualist critiques flourish precisely because cities breed them
Evidence
The atrophy of individual culture through the hypertrophy of objective culture lies at the root of the bitter hatred which the preachers of the most extreme individualism, in the footsteps of Nietzsche, directed against the metropolis. But it is also the explanation of why indeed they are so passionately loved in the metropolis and indeed appear to its residents as the saviors of their unsatisfied yearnings. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 760
Categorization
- XREF: The paradox that the city produces both the disease and the cure resonates with the essay’s account of the observer who both suffers and reproduces urban detachment. — connects to: Rare and brief city encounters push people to stylize themselves as sharply individualized — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 759; Intellectual originality can be a product of marginal social position — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 10; The city’s indifference is a virtue rather than a defect — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 5 (+1 more)
Related
- Metropolitan alienation explains both anti-city hatred and the popularity of extreme individualism there (similarity 0.86)
- The city’s indifference is a virtue rather than a defect (similarity 0.82)
- Extreme individualists like Nietzsche hated the metropolis for cultural atrophy (similarity 0.81)
- Urban exactitude suppresses irrational, instinctive, sovereign impulses (similarity 0.78)
- The metropolis reduces individuals to negligible cogs in an objective culture (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Greatly widened circles permit misanthropic detachment and extreme individualism
#corroborates(0.90) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 648 - Intellectual originality can be a product of marginal social position
#complicates(0.40) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 10 - The city’s indifference is a virtue rather than a defect
#corroborates(0.35) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 5