Human sociality is one possibility among several, not the only lens on experience

Evidence

Mankind has created association as its general form of life. This was not, so to speak, the only logical possibility. The human species could just as well have been unsocial; there are unsocial animal species as well as social ones. Because of the fact of human sociality, however, we are easily misled into thinking that categories which directly or indirectly are sociological ones are the only, and universally applicable, categories in terms of which we may contemplate the contents of human experience. This notion, however, is completely erroneous. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 210

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes Simmel’s foundational premise that the sociological standpoint is one legitimate category among several, not the only one.
• XREF: connects to: Simmel reads human experience as creative, fragmented, conflictual, and individualistic — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 86; Human life must be understood under both individual and social attributes at once — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 213

Related

• Simmel reads human experience as creative, fragmented, conflictual, and individualistic (similarity 0.85)
• Humanity’s viewpoint and society’s viewpoint remain in principle distinct (similarity 0.85)
• Individual and society are methodological standpoints, not separable entities (similarity 0.84)
• Human essence is the ensemble of social relations, not an individual abstraction (similarity 0.83)
• Human life must be understood under both individual and social attributes at once (similarity 0.83)
• Social types can embody an all-dominating orientation to the world (similarity 0.82)
• Simmel advanced technical sociology mainly as a byproduct of metaphysical concerns (similarity 0.82)
• There is no single legitimate abstract sociology but several coexisting kinds. (similarity 0.82)
• Individual motives become social only through forms of mutual interaction (similarity 0.82)
• Humanity functions as an organizing idea, not a concrete entity (similarity 0.81)
• Simmel saw cultural evolution producing diverse incommensurable worlds, not unified humanity (similarity 0.81)
• Society is a concrete generality neither reducible to individuals nor abstract (similarity 0.80)
• Real social unities must be conceptually dissolved into dualities that never fully capture them (similarity 0.80)
• A set of individuals can be society to varying degrees. (similarity 0.80)
• Fewer, more general marriage forms allow more individual differentiation (similarity 0.80)