'In all those emotional relationships where happiness lies not only in what one receives but just as much in what one gives, where each is mutually and equally enriched by the others, there develops a value the enjoyment of which is not bought by any deprivation on the part of an opposite party. Similarly, the communication of intellectual matters does not mean that something has to be taken from one person so that another can enjoy it'.
Another very pregnant passage is the following, where Simmel comes close to a dynamic theory of wealth and culture:
'The extension of human spheres of power in a variety of dimensions, which belies both the statement that the world is given away free and that the satisfaction of needs is tied to theft of whatever sort, could be termed the substantive progress of culture'.
Necessarily, these passages raise a stream of attendant problems, issues for another essay - another day..
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