Sociologia, modernidade e individualismo em Georg Simmel ”“ Um estudo a partir da Filosofia do Dinheiro

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the theories of modernity and individualism elaborated by Georg Simmel in his book Philosophy of Money, demonstrating how the simmelian conception of the modern contains critical reflections on the individuals’ existence conditions in this time. In this sense, this article is subdivided into five parts: in the first, I analyze some methodological assumptions of Georg Simmel that impact on his conception of sociology and on his definition of the relations between money and the process of differentiation, crucial for understanding his theory of individualism; in the second, I analyze the relations between monetary economy and individual freedom in the realm of the modern; in the third, I analyze the relation between monetary economy and “lifestyle”; in the penultimate part, I continue the reflections on the simmelian conception of “lifestyle”, in order to apprehend the relations between its epistemological assumptions and its theory of individualism, which contains elements of criticism of modernity; the last item contains the final considerations of the article, which demonstrate how the simmelian theory of modernity contains a theory of individualism, which raises its critique of modernity as the epoch of the “tragedy of culture”, in which an abyss exists between the culture of the subjects and the culture of objects.