Über eine Beziehung der Selektionslehre zur Erkenntnistheorie : Simmel fra pragmatismo e teoria dell’evoluzione

This contribution presents the first Italian translation of Georg Simmel’s 1885 article, Über eine Beziehung der Selektionslehre zur Erkenntnistheorie. Simmel’s essay outlines a concept of truth derived from practical needs, aligning it with Pragmatism. The text is essential for challenging the restrictive, three-phase periodization of Simmel’s philosophy, demonstrating a fundamental continuity in his thought based on a relativist, pragmatist, and evolutionist approach to the theory of knowledge. The 1885 essay shows Simmel’s critical engagement with Kant and Neo-Kantianism. While adopting the focus on critique as a theory of knowledge, he rejects Kant’s alleged notion of a static, abstract subject whose a priori forms are immutable. Simmel contends that the mind’s structure must also participate in the process of evolution. Simmel argues that there is no inherent, theoretically valid truth; instead, ideas are designated as ‘true’ only if they successfully motivate actions that promote life and survival. Truth is thus synonymous with efficacy. Natural selection preserves and validates mental representations that prove to be useful for the species. This approach ultimately resolves the dualism between the theoretical world of representation and the world of practical action: the utility of the knowing subject is what ultimately produces the objects of knowing