Abstract: For a long time,the ethical significance of Simmel's life philosophy has not received much attention. However,ethical issues are one of the topics that Simmel had devoted his attention to throughout his life,and the individual law is Simmel's ultimate conclusion on ethical questions after he turned to life philosophy. This paper introduces the basic connotation and theoretical resources of the individual law,and its significance to the western dominant ethical thoughts and the modern day human conditions. Simmel wanted to find out the source of ethical choice for modern individuals in the money economy as well as a discourse of individualism that was conducive to the subjective culture development. His early research on the money economy and two types of individualism led him to a new form of individuality. In his view,“ought”“actuality”“art”“religion” and etc. are all categories of equal status and independence. We can apply any of these categories to our understanding of life and in so doing we are able to reach an independent world. When we look at individuality under the category of “ought” in an ethical sense,the individual life as “ought” becomes a law for the life as “actuality”,the individual law is thus formed. Simmel's idea of individual law arises from his long time dialogues with Kant,Schopenhauer,Nietzsche,and Goethe. He challenged the predominant Kant's universal law in the western ethical thoughts and was critical of the mechanical epistemology of science that led to the universal law. Simmel's thoughts represented a form of individualistic discourse that is different from utilitarianism,egoism or any other ideological trends in the West.

Key words: life, individualism, the universal law, the individual law