The objective spirit between hermeneutics and social sciences
The concept of objective spirit goes beyond the moral and political dimension attributed to it by Hegel to integrate works, techniques and institutions in the broadest sense. The relation between the present, genetic, current dimension and the depositories of its activity make it possible to conduct a sociological investigation of the ordinary with a hermeneutics of social objects. The synchronic analysis of forms of sociality is completed by a diachronic consideration of the historicity of cultural phenomena. The article explores the constitution of the object of social sciences in its relationship with the objective spirit, enabling a comparison with the hermeneutic tradition. It touches on Hegel, Boeckh, Dilthey as well as the difference between Simmel and Durkheim, the German and French traditions. It suggests that the Simmelien tradition offers the advantage of analytical flexibility that situates it at the intersection of the contributions of hermeneutics and sociology.