This textbook examines interaction, reciprocity, dualism, conflict, and personality in the work of Georg Simmel. These themes, which made Simmel the founder of relational sociology, are presented uniquely in the light of intimate relations. According to Simmel, intimate relations rather than the individual constitute the fundamental stratum of human culture. By relating objective social facts to subjective experience, Simmel also opened up a new way of understanding human life in the early 20th century. Using Simmel's theory of reciprocity, this book follows an innovative method of interpretation, providing a quantitative perspective of lived experience. This book analyzes Simmel's ideas from the viewpoint of modern hermeneutical philosophy and sociology. Fellmann expertly presents the historical context of Simmel's concepts, and their influence on other sociologists and philosophers, especially in Germany. Written in an engaging style, this book is suitable as a core text in undergraduate and graduate courses on sociological theory and continental philosophy. Additionally, given the new focus on Simmel and intimate relations, the book is of interest to scholars of relational sociology, history of sociology, continental philosophy, history of philosophy, philosophy of culture, and philosophical anthropology.

Ferdinand Fellmann (d. 2019) was a noted German philosopher. He studied at the University of Münster and the University of Giessen (Germany), where he trained under his most influential professor, Hans Blumenberg. Fellmann was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Münster in 1980. Later, he moved away from historicism and towards systematic themes. In 1994, he was appointed "Gründungsprofessor" of philosophy at the Chemnitz University of Technology, where he worked on synthesizing idealistic and materialistic forms of thought. After becoming Professor Emeritus in 2005, Fellmann served as Visiting Professor in Vienna (Austria) and Trento (Italy). In opposition to the dominance of analytic philosophy at German universities, Fellmann remained devoted to the continental philosophical tradition. His concept of the philosophy of life covers a wide spectrum of cultural anthropology, and is especially focused on evolutionary psychology. Following modern psychoanalysis, he emphasized the role of eroticism in the making of the human mind. In doing so, he was similar to Georg Simmel, about whom he published several groundbreaking articles in German. Being an unconventional thinker like Simmel, Fellmann did not belong to any particular philosophical community. He ironically referred to himself as the "Academic of no Academy".