Georg Simmel and the transmission of distance

Abstract

Simmel’s social thinking is discussed in terms of distance and associated ideas. Distance is viewed as the negative ground of positive forms which, like a receding horizon, inhabits all aspects of human life as an immanent absence. For Simmel, distance implies the constant abandonment of positive forms in a continuous reaching out by human agency to the indefinite and unknown. Distance thus means that human agency has its source in a primal force that transcends the specific goals of everyday life. Human agency is moved principally by a force that continually exceeds it as the continuous transmission of distance as a negative ground which never comes. Simmel’s example of the modern city illustrates distance as the distension and de-creation of human agency, which is further exemplified in contemporary developments such as globalization and the transmission of information.