El secreto y las sociedades secretas

by Georg Simmel, Javier Eraso Ceballos (Translator), Daniel Mundo (Contributor)

"That we shall know with whom we have to do, is the first precondition of having anything to do with another. The customary reciprocal presentation, in the case of any somewhat protracted conversation, or in the case of contact upon the same social plane, although at first sight an empty form, is an excellent symbol of that reciprocal apprehension which is the presumption of every social relationship."

Genres: Sociology, Anthropology, Politics, Nonfiction, Social

123 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Georg Simmel was a major German sociologist, philosopher, and critic.

Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach laid the foundations for sociological antipositivism, asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's question 'What is nature?', presenting pioneering analyses of social individuality and fragmentation. For Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Simmel discussed social and cultural phenomena in terms of "forms" and "contents" with a transient relationship; form becoming content, and vice versa, dependent on the context. In this sense he was a forerunner to structuralist styles of reasoning in the social sciences. With his work on the metropolis, Simmel was a precursor of urban sociology, symbolic interactionism and social network analysis. An acquaintance of Max Weber, Simmel wrote on the topic of personal character in a manner reminiscent of the sociological 'ideal type'. He broadly rejected academic standards, however, philosophically covering topics such as emotion and romantic love. Both Simmel and Weber's nonpositivist theory would inform the eclectic critical theory of the Frankfurt School.

Simmel's most famous works today are The Problems of the Philosophy of History (1892), The Philosophy of Money (1907), The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903), Soziologie (1908, inc. The Stranger, The Social Boundary, The Sociology of the Senses, The Sociology of Space, and On The Spatial Projections of Social Forms), and Fundamental Questions of Sociology (1917). He also wrote extensively on the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well on art, most notably his book Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art (1916).

Reviews

[Rubi ❃ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro interesante, sin embargo, las ultimas 20 páginas fueron muy repetitivas.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather cramped, European translation from (it appears) Dutch, in the sort of dense, academic language that has a tendency to make the eyes glaze over if they're not too busy running back and forth re-reading impenetrable paragraphs that run on for pages at a stretch. This online edition contains a number of what appear to be OCR transcription errors. Arendt cites it alongside "The Political Function of the Modern Lie" to make a point about the organization of the upper echelons Nazi Party of which I have now long since lost track.

Despite all this, I find it interesting, not only for understanding the machinations of such organizations as the Nazi and Soviet Communist Parties, but also what much presently occur in the Oval Office and environs, as well as better understanding the inner functioning of such groups as the Freemasons and their offshoots.

The first half consists of a somewhat expository preamble setting up the sociological groundwork regarding degrees of disclosure and discretion, veracity and mendacity, among different level of human relationships. Dense, somewhat obvious, and a little dull, while seeming almost off-topic in light of the title, but seemingly necessary to make the later points comprehensible.

All these combinations are characterized sociologically by the fact that the secret of the one party is to a certain extent recognized by the other, and the intentionally or unintentionally concealed is intentionally or unintentionally respected. The intention of the concealment assumes, however, a quite different intensity so soon as it is confronted by a purpose of discovery. Thereupon follows that purposeful concealment, that aggressive defense, so to speak, against the other party, which we call secrecy in the most real sense.

"Secret societies" are not mentioned as such until after the halfway mark, but once introduced remain the central topic: "…the sociology of secret societies presents the complicated problem of ascertaining the immanent forms of a group which are determined by attitudes of secrecy on the part of the same toward other elements." In the context of what most people think of when the term "secret society" is used, I found this bit to be most telling:

With the ritual the secret society voluntarily imposes upon itself a formal constraint, which is demanded as a complement by its material detachment and self-sufficiency. It is characteristic that, among the Freemasons, it is precisely the Americans—who enjoy the largest political freedom—of whom the severest unity in manner of work, the greatest uniformity of the ritual of all lodges, are demanded; while in Germany—where the otherwise sufficient quantum of bondage leaves little room for a counterdemand in the direction of restrictions upon freedom—more freedom is exercised in the manner in which each individual lodge carries on its work. The often essentially meaningless, schematic constraint of the ritual of the secret society is therefore by no means a contradiction of its freedom bordering on anarchy, its detachment from the norms of the circle which contains it. Just as widespread existence of secret societies is, as a rule, a proof of public unfreedom, of a policy of police regulation, of police oppression; so, conversely, ritual regulation of these societies from within proves a freedom and enfranchisement in principle for which the equilibrium of human nature produces the constraint as a counter-influence.

Naturally, however, the reasons why I find all of this interesting are secret.

[Rüçhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bir sosyoloji kitabının roman akıcılığında olmasını elbette beklemiyorum ama çeviride kesinlikle akmayan bir şey var. Ödev gereği okumak zorunda kaldım ama metnin ne kadarını anlayabildiğimden emin değilim.

[İsmail Keskin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Temel bir metin, çeviri genel anlamda başarılı, sadece son kısımda "sorumsuzluk" olarak çevirilen kavram daha çok "vebalsizlik" ya da "mesuliyetsizlik"e karşılık geliyor.

[John Gossman · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd little 1906 book that I stumbled across in a footnote. Dense with an obscure academic style, possibly poorly translated. Some of the arguments are unsound. I was interested in how governments work when their transactions are secret...which was most governments before the Enlightenment (notably Venice) and I got a few ideas from this. But if it hadn't been so short I probably wouldn't have finished it.

[Alberto Valdés Tola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro que trata sobre una temática muy poco estudiada en sociología o en las ciencias sociales en general. El enfoque tiene algo de interdisciplinario (filosófico, psicológico y sociológico) y, esta referenciado por algunos datos sociohistóricos que el autor utiliza para sostener sus argumentos. En síntesis, el "secreto" no solo es una forma más de socialización, sino un vehículo de relevancia para mantener la cohesión social en cualquiera sociedad... hay puntos de analísis que van desde la individualización hasta el colectivismo más estructural; así, el secreto se transforma en un relevante fundamental para cualquier "teoría de la acción" weberiana e, incluso, fenomenológica... por otra parte, Simmel nos ofrece sesudas reflexiones sobre el "adorno" y las "sociedades secretas". Para mi concepto, este libro es un texto necesario para comprender la interacción social y el mismo proceo de internalización de los significados y contenidos estratificados de toda sociedad. Por último, creo que este estudio no solo es importante desde la óptica de: describir procesos sociológicos que permiten la existencia de la sociedad, sino también le veo aplicaciones pragmáticas para las ciencias de la salud, la administración de empresa y las ciencias políticas ().

También, quiero destacar el excelente prologo de Daniel Mundo; el cual, no solo ha sido revelador (en términos biográficos), sino que permite afinar algunos conceptos de Simmel, ya que la lectura no es para nada farragosa, pero si es de un nivel de lectura académica algo intermedia.

En fin, muy recomendable.

[Kıvılcım]

"Gizlilik ayrıca istismar edilebileceğinin bilincinde olunmasıyla varlığını sürdürür ve dolayısıyla kaderi değiştirme, sürpriz, neşe ve sadece kendimize talihsizlik getirecek bile olsa, felaket üretme gücü sağlar. Böylece ihanet olasılığı ve cezbediciliği sırrın etrafında dolaşır ve dışarıdan gelen keşfedilme tehlikesi içeriden gelen ve uçurumun kenarından bakmak kadar büyüleyici olan kendini keşfetme tehlikesiyle iç içe geçer. Gizlilik insanlar arasına bariyerler yerleştirir ama aynı zamanda dedikodu ya da itiraf yoluyla bariyerleri yıkma cazibesi de sunar."