Abstract

The work of Georg Simmel has a rather peculiar history of reception. Even during his life-time and to this day he has been the stranger in the academic community. Not only has he remained a stranger, in the sense that he still is not understood very well, he is also recognized as one of the founding fathers of sociology (with Weber and Durkheim). Simmel is primarily known as a sociologist — at least in the United States. However, he would not have referred to himself as a sociologist, he certainly thought he was a philosopher.