Georg Simmel: Toward the Philosophy of the Actor

Abstract

This is a translation of Georg Simmel’s paper, “Zur Philosophie des Schauspielers,” which was published posthumously in Logos: Internationale Zeitung fur die Philosophie der Kultur, Band 9 (1920-1921), 339-362. Given that a play is already a work of art, Simmel explores the relationship between the actor as a real person and the prescribed role he physically brings to life onstage. In the course of this study he explains, among other things, how the actor’s art differs from the functional roles people play in ordinary life, how it resembles painting and poetry, how artistic freedom draws near to moral freedom, and how two great actors can have strikingly different yet equally correct interpretations of the same role. Artistic creation in general, he argues, is rooted in a metaphysical depth of being, and acting is the most radical of the arts.