Toward an Appreciation of Simmel's Fragmentary Style

Bibliographic Data

ID2275943
AuthorsCharles David Axelrod (University of Manitoba, corresponding author)
Year1977
Volume18
Issue2
Pages185-196
Publication date1977-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0253 • E-ISSN: 1533-8525
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1533-8525.1977.tb01406.x
OpenAlexW2086607086
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited10

The rationality that guides the sociological community has generated principles to evaluate members' work. Under the sway of these principles, Georg Simmel surfaces either as a peripheral member of the community or as an outright failure. His critics have argued that his work is “fragmented,” that he begins without having formulated “guiding statements,” that he is “unsystematic” and “undisciplined.” Yet we can discover in Simmel's writings a distinct rationality that upsets this criticism by its transcendence of it. Had these particular critics read his work more carefully they might have discovered that Simmel had anticipated their criticism and had carefully reevaluated its source of authority. In this paper I address the problems of discipline and systematic unity in sociological writing in order to unmask the rationality held within the sociological community and to formulate Simmel's unique contribution as a member of that community

Criticism · Epistemology · Literature · Order (exchange · Political science · Rationality · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Transcendence (philosophy · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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