Georg Simmel
Georg Simmel was a prominent German philosopher and sociologist born on March 1, 1858, in Berlin. He was the youngest of seven children in a family that experienced significant loss early on, as his father passed away when Simmel was young. After earning his PhD in philosophy from the University of Berlin in 1881, Simmel embarked on an academic career that included teaching at the same university. Over his lifetime, he published extensively, contributing over a dozen books and numerous articles focused on philosophy, ethics, art, history, and social sciences. His influential works include "Philosophie des Geldes" (The Philosophy of Money), exploring the social implications of money, and "Soziologie," which examines forms of social interaction.
Despite his prolific output, Simmel faced challenges in his academic progression, attributable to his broad interests and the absence of a systematic theoretical framework. He is often celebrated as a foundational figure in modern sociology, known for his insightful observations and memorable quotes. Although he did not establish a formal school of thought or leave behind a line of disciples, his ideas continue to resonate and influence contemporary sociological discourse. Simmel passed away on September 28, 1918, shortly after World War I began, leaving a lasting legacy in both philosophy and sociology.
On this Page
Georg Simmel
Sociologist
- Born: March 1, 1858
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Died: September 28, 1918
- Place of death: Strassburg, Germany
Biography
Georg Simmel was born in Berlin, Germany, on March 1, 1858, the youngest of seven children. His father, a prosperous businessman who had converted from Judaism to Christianity, died when Simmel was young. Simmel maintained a distant relationship to his domineering mother, and a friend of the family was appointed his guardian. Following graduation from high school, Simmel studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin, receiving his PhD in 1881. His thesis was devoted to Immanuel Kant’s metaphysics.
Beginning in 1885, Simmel taught at the University of Berlin as an semi-independent teacher (privatdozent), and in 1900 he was named associate professor without faculty status. Despite his many publications and success as a lecturer, his academic advancement was slow, largely because of his wide-ranging interests and failure to develop a systematic theoretical model. He married Gertrud Kinel, a philosopher who published under the pseudonym Marie-Luise Enckendorf. The couple lived a quiet and comfortable bourgeois life, with their home serving as a venue for cultivated gatherings with their many intellectual friends, including Max Weber, Edmund Husserl, Adolf von Harnack, and Stefan George.
A prolific writer, Simmel published over a dozen books and more than seventy articles on diverse topics of philosophy, ethics, art, history, religion, and the social sciences. Famous for his rhetorical and dialectical skills, he was frequently called a kulturphilosoph (cultural philosopher). His most familiar book, Philosophie des Geldes (1900; The Philosophy of Money, 1978), presents money as a form of social interaction that helps determine the impersonal nature of modern society. His major sociological treatise, Soziologie: Untersuchungen über die Formen der Vergesellschaftung (1908; translated in The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 1950), focuses on reoccurring forms of social interaction, such as the famous distinction between two kinds of groups, dyads and triads.
In 1914, he was awarded the title of full professor at the University of Strasbourg, located on the border between Germany and France. Almost as soon as he moved to Strasbourg, World War I interrupted the university’s schedule, and most lecture halls became military hospital facilities. For the next four years, Simmel abandoned his usual detachment and expressed super- patriotic defenses of Germany’s military policies. Shortly before the war ended, he died of liver cancer on September 28, 1918.
While Simmel is respected as a philosopher, his most lasting contributions were in the field of academic sociology. In fact, sociological texts almost always present him as one of the founders of the modern discipline. Because he never developed a consistent theoretical system, he is not credited with having created a “school” of thought, and he left almost no disciples. His influences are primarily seen in numerous provocative insights and succinct quotations. Sociologist Robert Merton has referred to him as “that man of seminal ideas.”
Bibliography
Frisby, David. Georg Simmel. Rev. ed. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Ritzer, George. Classical Sociological Theory. 6th ed. New York: McGraw, 2010. Print.
Simmel, Georg. The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Trans. Kurt H. Wolff. New York: Free P, 1950. Print.
Simmel, Georg. The View of Life: Four Metaphysical Essays with Journal Aphorisms. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2010. Print.