Historical Science and Sociology in the Writings of Georg Simmel
This article examines the Simmelian conception of the relationship between history and sociology in order to determine whether it can further our understanding of the epistemological specificity of history. The article traces the varying definitions of historical science that Simmel successively adopted. He first conceived of the study of history as the first level of knowledge in the humanities and, later, as a science governed by the distinct a priori knowledge of individuality. Ultimately, although he developed this perspective least, history was for Simmel the study of the historicity of social phenomena, insofar as the object of study was not confined to the reciprocal actions with which Simmelian sociology is concerned.