Abstract
The German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel (1858-1918) is internationally known as the founder of Formal Sociology. I take the centenary of his death as a welcome opportunity to remember the beginning of modern social sciences. The current state of European and American relational sociology can be interpreted as a revival of Simmel’s method and principles of social research directed to a phenomenology of genesis. From the genetic point of view Simmel considers individuality, creativity, fragmentation and conflict the typical characteristics of modern society. Consequently, his Formal Sociology should be called “Genetic Sociology” instead of Relational Sociology. This paper has the aim to make Simmel’s legacy known to Chinese sociologists and cultural philosophers. Concluding, I highlight the essential differences between the German and the Chinese way of seeing the world of social life, and I propose issues for change.
Highlights
Georg Simmel’s Way of Life and ThoughtGeorg Simmel taught at the University of Berlin, the cultural ferment of the period from the turn of the century to World War I
If we look to the East, the image of man in Chinese philosophy is less conflictive than western concepts of human nature
As we have learned from Simmel, in modern societies life is in permanent conflict between nature and culture
Summary
Georg Simmel taught at the University of Berlin, the cultural ferment of the period from the turn of the century to World War I. His lectures were frequented by a broad public, mostly by intellectual women who were fascinated by the teacher’s aura. Simmel’s actuality is doubtless due to the unscholarly aspects of Simmel’s style of life and thinking. He lived a bourgeois life with his wife, their home becoming a venue for cultivated gatherings in the tradition of the salon
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