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Georg Simmel

Georg Simmel Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Georg Simmel Quotes

“Our fellowman either may voluntarily reveal to us the truth about himself, or by dissimulation he may deceive us as to the truth. No other object of knowledge can thus of its own initiative, either enlighten us with reference to itself or conceal itself, as a human being can. No other knowable object modifies its conduct from consideration of its being understood or misunderstood.”

KnowledgePrivacyConcealmentDissimulation1906
Book:The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies
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“The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.”

ProblemFacesCultureIndividualForceSocialExistenceModernInspireClaimsHistoricalIndividualityTechniquePreservesBeing YourselfOverwhelmingHeritageIndividualismAutonomyModern LifeIndividual Autonomy
Book:The Sociology of Georg Simmel
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“Gratitude, as it were, is the moral memory of mankind. In this respect, it differs from faithfulness by being more practical and impulsive: although it may remain, of course, something purely internal, it may yet engender new actions. It is an ideal bridge which the soul comes across again and again, so to speak, and which, upon provocations too slight to throw a new bridge to the other person, it uses to come closer to him.”

MemoriesMoralMankindGratitude
Author:Georg Simmel
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“The calculative exactness of practical life which the money economy has brought about corresponds to the ideal of natural science: to transform the world by mathematical formulas. Only money economy has filled the days of so many people with weighing, calculating, with numerical determinations, with a reduction of qualitative values to quantitative ones.”

PeopleWorldValuesNaturalEconomyIdealsDeterminationFilledPracticalsMathematicalFormulasReductionNatural ScienceCalculatingWeighingQualitativeExactnessPractical Life
Book:The Sociology of Georg Simmel
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“Nothing more can be attempted than to establish the beginning and the direction of an infinitely long road. The pretension of any systematic and definitive completeness would be, at least, a self-illusion. Perfection can here be obtained by the individual student only in the subjective sense that he communicates everything he has been able to see.”

LongHas BeensSelfWould BeAbleIndividualStudentsIllusionPerfectionCommunicateSubjectiveSystematicPretensionCompletenessLong Road
Book:The Sociology of Georg Simmel
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“Fashion is the playing area for individuals that lack interior autonomy and need more support points, but who nonetheless feel the need to stand out, to be paid attention to and be considered apart from the rest Fashion elevates the insignificant by making it in the representative of a totality, the particular incarnation of a common spirit. Its function is to make possible the kind of social obedience which is at the same time individual differentiation It is the mixing of submission and the feeling of domination that is in action here.”

NeedsFeelsKindFeelingsActionSpiritIndividualSocialCommonAttentionSupportFashionParticularAreasFunctionPaidObedienceRepresentativesInteriorsStanding OutDominationSubmissionAutonomyInsignificantIncarnationTotalityMixingDifferentiation
Author:Georg Simmel
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