Georg Simmel, Philosopher and Sociologist (c. 1914) A major German philosopher and social scientist, Georg Simmel (1858-1918) numbered among Wilhelmine Germany’s most famous intellectuals. He was appointed Privatdozent [unpaid adjunct lecturer] at Berlin University (later Humboldt University) in 1885. Despite the respect he commanded both within Berlin’s cultural milieu and among European intellectuals, he remained largely on the fringes of the official academic establishment and was constantly looked over for academic promotions. Simmel’s most famous work is entitled The Philosophy of Money. Further writings addressed the psychological effects of living in a large metropolis such as Berlin.