Understanding the relation between individual and society through Georg Simmel´s sociology

Abstract

This article identifies, among Georg Simmel's various writings, his conception of one of modern social theory's founding concepts: the tension between individual and society. Simmel insists that the question ?How is society possible?? requires a philosophical, as much as a purely sociological, answer. In this article we argue that Simmel?s objective in founding a science of society cannot be separated from his interpretation of modernity. We shall try to bring out what we see as the clear and specific connection between his two projects.