It thus appears that the moral maxim never to use a man as a mere means is actually the formula of every sociation. Where the significance of the one party sinks so low that its effect no longer enters the relationship with the other, there is as little ground for speaking of sociation as there is in the case of the carpenter and his bench.

DEFINE: Simmel equates the Kantian moral principle with the very definition of social interaction, redefining 'sociation' as requiring mutual effect between both parties.

DEFINE: Defines sociation itself by the Kantian moral condition that no party's significance can shrink to the point of mere instrumentality.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 322