Georg Simmel
(Berlin, 1858-Strasbourg, France, 1918) German philosopher and sociologist.A representative of relativistic neo-Kantianism, he taught philosophy at the universities of Berlin (1885-1914) and Strasbourg (1914-1918).He wanted to resolve the contradictions to which the formalism of the Kantian "a priori" led and also made an effort to deduce moral types ( Introduction to the science of morality , 1892) and classify the feelings and ideas that they determine the historical reconstruction ( Problems of the philosophy of history , 1892).On the other hand, he contributed decisively to the consolidation of sociology as a science in Germany ( Sociology , 1908) and outlined the main lines of a sociological methodology, isolating the general and recurrent forms of social interaction at scale political, economic and aesthetic.He paid special attention to the problem of authority and obedience in his Philosophy of money (1900) and diagnosed the specialization and depersonalization of social relations in the context of a monetarist economy.
Georg Simmel
Devoted to the studies of philosophy, Georg Simmel's Hebrew origin hampered the exercise of the teaching profession for a long time.Free professor at the University of Berlin in 1892, despite the prestige of his teaching and the fame of his works (soon spread even outside purely philosophical circles), he did not become an extraordinary professor until 1900, and only in 1914, A few years before his death, due to cancer, he obtained a professorship in Strasbourg.
In 1918 the most significant work of the author was published: Intuition of life.Four metaphysical chapters , a text that proposes a true metaphysics of existence seen as absolute spontaneity, creative activity and perennial impulse for freedom, which, arriving at the spiritual level, continually elaborates social constitutions, religions, philosophy, scientific knowledge, artistic productions that tend to enclose it in itself and schemes that life itself breaks and overwhelms.The last book by Georg Simmel published during the author's lifetime was The conflict of modern culture (1918). Schulpädagogik (1922) and Fragmente und Aufsätze (1923) appeared posthumously.
His "very private seminars" decisively guided numerous philosophers who later played a great role in the development of 20th century cultural life.Simmel liked to repeat that they were progressing bravely, because, even if they hit the wall with their heads, they would still be "warned by the flash caused by the crash"; in this way he expressed his methodological principle that led him not to fear extreme consequences.He himself, and with great originality, put this criterion into practice through devastating criticisms and, with it, the creation of the philosophy of extreme relativism.
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