Simmel’s inquiry always proceeds by disclosing the form of a bounded phenomenon
Evidence
Whether he is examining a social process or a developmental pattern, a world of culture or a philosophic system, a historic individual or a personality type, the logic of Simmel’s inquiry is the same. His method is to select some bounded, finite phenomenon from the world of flux; to examine the multiplicity of elements which compose it; and to ascertain the cause of their coherence by disclosing its form. Secondarily, he investigates the origins of this form and its structural implications. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 66
Categorization
- DEFINE: States Simmel’s methodological logic — useful for understanding why he treats the blasé attitude as a ‘form’ with structural properties.