Abstract: Money, an intermediary and symbol, is an important approach to understanding modern society. In the contemporary study of Marx’s critique of political economy, it is very important to introduce Simmel’s perspective to explain Marx’s monetary philosophy. However, the internal dimension of Simmel’s philosophy of money is often neglected in the past studies together with its effect on ideological history of Western Marxism. Marx’s philosophy of money is a materialist historical interpretation of the structural relations of money, ownership and modes of production within a critical theoretical paradigm. Comparatively speaking, Simmel’s analysis of money is more based on psychological experience and interactive exchange relations within a cultural and social theoretical paradigm. Simmel’s theory is a supplement to and an extension of Marx’s macro structure analysis and directly affects Lukacs’ interpretation of Marx’s philosophy. This provides new evidence for Lukacs’ source of thought, which is significant in the history of thought and enlightening to China’s current social construction .

Key words: Key words： Simmel, Marx, money, modern heritage, intertextuality analysis, significance in the history of thought