Georg Simmel

Georg Simmel occupies the status of a trailblazer in relation to the sociology of knowledge. He articulated sociological, epistemological, and cultural philosophical issues that posthumously influenced the emerging sociology of knowledge. Simmel's pioneering contributions to the sociology of knowledge are diverse. At the center of his relational social theory are the interactions between individuals and the dynamic process of socialization. Furthermore, Simmel insists that sociologists encounter a social world that has already been interpreted by people themselves. His reflections on sociological aprioris represent an attempt to reformulate Kantian epistemology from a social constructivist perspective. Beyond these more foundational theoretical innovations, Simmel's countless essays provide dense descriptions of everyday phenomena of modern life. In his writings on the stranger, space, money, the metropolis, or the ethical problem of freedom—just to name a few—Simmel's impressive phenomenological observational skills and analytically precise accuracy are revealed. At the same time, a cultural diagnosis of the times that remains relevant today emerges in the essays. This volume outlines the contours of a sociology of knowledge in Simmel's work and relates it to the biographical context and scholarly habitus of this classic.