Abstract
This article reviews five of the most common ways in which sociologists have apprehended and represented George Simmel's oeuvre and from which an argument about his fundamental lessons are derived and elaborated. These are they: the standpoint of Simmel as aesthete, as inconsequent, as an inconstant theorist, as metaphysician and phenomenologist, and as a latent theorist. Presented in the form of counterpoints, this debate culminates in the proposal of a sixth way to apprehend Georg Simmel which illuminates major shifts in his late years' outlook - Simmel as an evolutionary theorist. Such shifts, as well as a comprehensive reading of his oeuvre, can provide points of departure for new kinds of investigation.
Keywords:
Georg Simmel; Modernity; Individualism; Social forms; Evolutionary theory