Abstracts
Abstract
“How is society possible?” The mirror image of Simmel’s famous question is: “How is individuality possible?” To answer this question Simmel developed a philosophy and sociology of individualism. The “tragedy of individuality” consists of the hiatus between the social structure offering freedom and individuality and the culture unable to provide the necessary meaning and orientation. This is shown with respect to epistemic, structural, cultural and ethic individuality.
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Appendices
Biographical notes
Hans-Peter Müller has the chair of General Sociology at Humboldt-University Simmel unfortunately never got. His areas of research include classical and modern social theory, social inequality, culture and the conduct of life. With Tilman Reitz he publishes a “Simmel-Handbook” for Suhrkamp in 2018, the 150th anniversary of Simmel’s death.
Alessandro Cavalli is Professor of Sociology. He taught at the University of Pavia. He had been Max Weber Gastprofessor at the University of Heidelberg; L. Leclerq Professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve; Fellow of the Collegium Budapest, Institute for Advanced Studies. Fields of interest: German social thought at the turn of 19th and 20th century, sociology of youth, time and education. He is author of more than 200 publications and member of the review boards of many journals, both Italian and foreign.
Alessandro Ferrara is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and former President of the Italian Association for Political Philosophy. Recently he has published Rousseau and Critical Theory (Boston-Leiden, Brill, 2017) and The Democratic Horizon. Hyperpluralism and the Renewal of Political Liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
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Alessandro Cavalli's Bibliography
- Cavalli A. (2009). “Variationen über das Thema des Geheimnisses”, in: Simmel Studies, XIX, 1, pp.20-35.
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Alessandro Ferrara's Bibliography
- Ferrara A. (2008). The Force of the Example. Explorations in the Paradigm of Judgment. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Simmel G. (1987[1913]). “Das individuelle Gesetz”, in: Das individuelle Gesetz. Philosophische Exkurse, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, pp. 174-230.