Volume 23, Number 2, 2019

EN:

Simmel discovers the essential in the unessential, and sets the centre of our affairs on the periphery of normal life. Temporary gratification, an ubi consistam, can in fact only be obtained in the ulteriority to which we are referred and in which we temporarily linger in marginal experiences, in the eccentric, in the as yet not saturated possibilities that come to meet us, as a gift, or as the result of an activity not entirely our own – the adventure, dreams, artworks. Simmel’s fundamental question is how not to remain below one’s own unexpressed possibilities. Through social or individual levers, men should be put in the position to exploit the richness of their own subjectivity and the objectivity of the modern world, to force an opening into the possible, while at the same time reducing the inevitable exposure to disappointment.

EN:

Simmel’s blasé and Benjamin’s flâneur as symbols of their models of metropolitan subjectivity can be the necessary reference points for delineating two models, sometimes converging, other times diverging, regarding the representation of the individual and its possible autonomy in the context of the “aestheticization” of contemporary daily life. Simmel does not stop looking – albeit with an accent on the tragic that grew ever stronger in last stages of his reflections – at the individual and the process of individualization from the perspective of the ever more marked differentiation and growth of the vital possibilities of the individual. Simmel’s conception of life as Adventure expresses an irreversible trend of contemporary subjectivity, which is towards the realization of its peculiarity and uniqueness. Benjamin, on the contrary, criticizes the conception of the adventure as the very search for true “lived experience” (Erlebnis), because it would lead directly to the aestheticization of politics, the exaltation of the noble gesture, the search for the authentic − all the forms of cultural expression that led to fascism and war. He seems rather prefer going beyond − in the utopian and/or ideological sense − the individualistic structure of contemporary society. His hope was that the void created by the disappearance of the western individual could be filled by new forms and figures of subjectivity and intellectuality made possible through the means offered by the technical reproducibility of artwork. From an exquisitely theoretical point of view, nothing can guarantee a priori that the search for authenticity does not head in this regressive direction, instead of establishing a point of departure towards new ethical and political paths.

EN:

This paper examines Georg Simmel’s essay “The Adventure” in relation to more recent translations of his later philosophy. Using the foundational framework supplied to us by Simmel, the paper attempts to unpack adventures as moments in our life-course which are timeless in their influence on the self. This transcending of time manifests in the present as emotions attached to the experiences of adventures shape our consideration of the “ought”. Borrowing ideas from the Romantic Wordsworth and incoporating examples from C.S. Lewis and the author’s own life, the article reconsiders the adventure as not simply something experienced and over time forgotten, but as a powerful tool in the reflexive process of understanding relations between “actuality” and “ought” in life.

EN:

In the following pages I hope to transfer my enthusiasm for the sociology of Georg Simmel to my readers. My hope is powered by something of a calling to pass on the message so central his writing and thinking that it can be condensed into one simple statement: Using his approach to culture, politics, and society translates the statement “you are wrong!” to “I see, that is how you look at it!” Thus, the blunt definition of the other person as being in error becomes an acknowledgment of a new insight. Based largely on Simmel's original writings an overall view of his approach, I try to present empowering the reader how topical his thinking is in light of some alarming social and political developments world wide in society today. This simple conversion from one view of a difference of opinion to another has an obvious potential of conflict reduction, and that is why it is “advertised” here.