Historical pattern explanations need leveled generality

Evidence

Conversely, the facts accumulated in diverse kinds of history provide invaluable material for the sociological study of social forms. They do so in three ways. First, to determine the origins and structural properties of any social form one must look at its realization in a great variety of contents. One can learn something about competition, for example, from a great many fields—economic history, history of art, history of religion, and so on. After looking at a variety of actual instances of competition one can then abstract the common structural features from these cases, in order to determine what competition is as a pure form of human behavior. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 60 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Whole-trend historical explanations often mask escapes from responsibility; Social forms must be abstracted from many historical instances — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 60; Historical law-statements require generalizing away from unique facts (+1 more)

Related

• Social forms must be abstracted from many historical instances (similarity 0.86)
• Forms of interaction retain identity across varied contents and historical settings (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Social forms must be abstracted from many historical instances #expands (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 60