Tragedy of Culture or Tragedy of Cognition? Reimagining Simmel As a Cognitive Sociologist

Georg Simmel's "tragedy of culture" concept is often viewed as central to his discourse on culture and art. This paper reinterprets Simmel's work through the lens of art anthropology and cognitive archaeology's discussions of the "cognitive life of things", positioning him as a precursor to cognitive sociology, whose crucial, yet overlooked, contribution lies in identifying the evolving cognitive ecology between humans and artifacts in modern life.

I argue that Simmel's theory goes beyond common interpretations (e.g., Frisby and Featherstone) that focus on the conflict between transcendental subjects and fixed objects —— Instead, it describes a "tragedy of cognition": as humans transcend existing cultural forms (e.g., artifacts, novels, poems), they continuously create new ones, leading to an ever-growing cultural system too complex for individuals to fully comprehend. This ongoing process of cultural creation and accumulation results in escalating cognitive pressure on individuals in the modern world, prompting coping strategies like forgetting, simplifying, indifference and attitude of blasé, which are key to understanding modern life characteristics such as pre-reflexivity, fluidity, and commodity fetishism.

My approach reveals a new dimension in Simmel's work, bridging classical sociological theory with contemporary interdisciplinary perspectives. By reframing the "tragedy of culture" as a cognitive phenomenon, I provide a cohesive framework that interconnects Simmel's diverse discourses on culture, art, and modern life. This reinterpretation not only enriches our understanding of Simmel's contributions but also illuminates the cognitive challenges of our increasingly object-saturated world, offering fresh insights into the interplay between humans and non-humans in the Anthropocene.