ABSTRACT
Sociology as a discipline, which strives to establish objective knowledge beyond societal appearance, stays in a relationship of profound tension with societal self-interpretation. Therefore, it is not surprising that the results of sociological research are periodically consigned to oblivion. The history of Georg Simmel's reception with its karstic sequence of oblivion, veiled reception and rediscoveries is a perfect example of the overall dynamics of gain and loss of autonomy that characterises the relationship between social science and societal self-interpretation. Simmel's influence on American social thought in general has always been erratic. Moreover, also here phases of substantial oblivion alternated with phases of sudden rediscovery. Yet the most productive phase of rediscovery for Simmel's work was a result of the encounter of different groups of scholars who were motivated by the start of the enterprise of the Georg Simmel edition in the 1990s under the guidance of Otthein Rammstedt.
