Georg Simmel: biography of this German philosopher and sociologist.

This thinker helped to raise new philosophical issues, especially about ethics and morality.

Throughout history, different cultures and societies have been born, developed and died, generating many ways of thinking and seeing the world. Philosophy and sociology are fundamental elements to understand not only their evolution, but also the very functioning of society and the discussion of multiple aspects of life.

There have been many authors who have developed both disciplines, but not so many who have gone on to carry out micro-sociological analyses such as interpersonal relationships or the structuring of reasoning. One of them, who would serve as a precursor to symbolic interactionism and the scientific development of sociology, was Georg Simmel. This author participated in the early stages of sociology and developed a philosophical thought of his own.

In the course of this article we are going to see a brief biography of Georg Simmel..

Short biography of Georg Simmel

Georg Simmel was born in Berlin during March 1, 1858, being the seventh and youngest son of Edward and Flora Simmel. His family, of Jewish origin, was prosperous and cultured, although his relationship with his mother was never close as she was excessively authoritarian. In spite of this, and regardless of the fact that his parents had converted to Christianity, Throughout his life he had to face an anti-Semitism that was widespread in society..

His father died in 1874, something that would end up by leading his family to a precarious economic situation. At that time a friend of the family, Julius Friedländer, took over and became Georg's guardian. Thanks to him he was able to study at a Gymnasium in BerlinHe completed his secondary education before entering university.

University education and the beginning of his teaching career

After completing his primary and secondary studies, Simmel enrolled at the University of Berlin in order to study philosophy and history, subjects in which he was deeply interested, in addition to attending lessons in social sciences and psychology.

During his education, which he completed entirely in Berlin, he came into contact with important philosophers, anthropologists and psychologists and studied works such as Kant's. Despite this, he had difficulties during his studies: in 1880 the university rejected a paper he intended to use as a doctoral thesis on the origin of music. Fortunately, and after changing the subject to metaphysics, he was able to obtain his doctorate with the thesis The nature of matter according to Kant's physical monadology (a thesis that even received a prize from the Kaiser). (a thesis that even received a prize from the Kaiser).

After completing his studies, he was not without some effort qualified to become a privatdozent, a private lecturer, in 1885: a position that was not highly valued but which allowed him to remain in contact with the university. In spite of it his great formation and interest in multiple subjects made of him a deeply popular teacher and loved by his students, since in addition to working unusual areas of philosophy he tried to approach them to close subjects for those who attended them.

Publications and personal relationships

During this period he also began to write publications that would gradually become more and more prestigious, even on an international level. In 1890 he married Gertrude Kinel, a painter and intellectual with whom he had one sonand through her he met and established a good relationship with thinkers such as Max Weber.

In this context he began to elaborate some of his most relevant philosophical works, introducing and being one of the forerunners of sociology as a science with publications such as On Social Differentiation or Introduction to Moral Science, in which he worked on topics such as sociology or the social sciences. worked on topics such as sociology or the impossibility of working a scientific ethics beyond mere description..

In addition to this author, Simmel began to hold several gatherings with great authors such as Stefan George, Edmund Husserl or Walter Benjamin. He also made several trips to Italy. In 1900 the University recognized his many contributions by naming him extraordinary professor, but nevertheless did not accept him as a professor (something that provoked the indignation of many intellectuals).

In 1908 he published Sociologyin 1908, helping to lay the scientific foundations of the discipline. Also at this time he focused on the concept of life, leaving a little aside the field of sociology as such to enter a more metaphysical and existentialist area.

Despite the marginality to which his origin condemned him, he succeeded in founding the German Sociological Society together with Weber.. Around 1914, coinciding with World War I, the University finally gave him a professorship.

Legacy in sociology and philosophy

Unfortunately, in the course of 1918 the author contracted liver cancer, which led to his death shortly afterwards. Georg Simmel died on September 28, 1918, in Strasbourg.. In his last year he would elaborate publications such as The Conflict of Modern Culture o Intuition of Life: Four Metaphysical Chapters, in the last of which we see his metaphysical position in his last years.in the last of which we see his metaphysical position in his final years.

Simmel's contributions are innumerable: despite being relatively little known and having been marginalized by the academia of his time, he contributed greatly to establishing sociology as a science, working on aspects such as authority and individuality or personal relationships. He was also a controversial and interesting philosopher who touched on topics such as immortality, moral relativism, life, love and ethics, and whose works served as inspiration to numerous later authors.

Bibliographical references:

• Rammstedt, O. and Cantó, N. (2000). Georg Simmel (1858-1918). Papers, 62: 11-24.