Otto Weininger

Otto Weininger

Otto Weininger
Full name	Otto Weininger
Born	1880 April Vienna, Austria
Died	1903 October Vienna, Austria
Era	20th Century Philosophy
Region	Western Philosophers
School	Freethought
Main interests	Philosophy, logic, psychology, genius, gender, religion
Notable ideas	All people have elements of both femininity and masculinity, logic and ethics are one, logic is tied to the principle of identity (A=A), the genius is the universal thinker.
Influenced by Immanuel Kant, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Jesus, Cesare Lombroso, Plato, Henrik Ibsen, Thomas Carlyle, Arthur Schopenhauer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Influenced Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Kraus, Franz Kafka, Gertrude Stein, Robert Musil, Arnold Schoenberg, Joyce, August Strindberg, Georg Trakl, Elias Canetti, Thomas Bernhard, Julius Evola, Lanz von Liebenfels, Giorgio de Chirico, Emil Cioran

Otto Weininger (April 3, 1880 – October 4, 1903) was an Austrian philosopher. In 1903, he published the book Geschlecht und Charakter (Sex and Character), which gained popularity after his suicide at the age of 23. Today, the book is generally viewed as misogynistic and antisemitic in academic circles.^[1]

Life

Otto Weininger was born on April 3, 1880 in Vienna as a son of the Jewish goldsmith Leopold Weininger and his wife Adelheid. After attending primary school and graduating from secondary school in July 1898, Weininger registered at the University of Vienna in October of the same year. He studied philosophy and psychology but took courses in natural sciences and medicine as well. Weininger learned Greek, Latin, French and English very early, later also Spanish and Italian, and acquired passive knowledge of the languages of August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen (i.e., Swedish and Danish/Norwegian).

In the autumn of 1901 Weininger tried to find a publisher for his work Eros and the Psyche—which he submitted to his professors Jodl and Müllner as his thesis in 1902. He met Sigmund Freud, who, however, did not recommend the text to a publisher. His professors accepted the thesis and Weininger received his Ph.D. degree. Shortly thereafter he became proudly and enthusiastically a Protestant.

In 1902 Weininger went to Bayreuth where he witnessed a performance of Richard Wagner's Parsifal, which left him deeply impressed. Via Dresden and Copenhagen he made his way to Christiania (Oslo) where he for the first time saw Henrik Ibsen's liberation drama Peer Gynt on stage. Upon his return to Vienna Weininger suffered from fits of deep depression. The decision to take his own life gradually took shape in his mind; after a long discussion with his friend Artur Gerber, however, Weininger realized that "it is not yet time".

In June 1903, after months of concentrated work, his book Sex and Character—a fundamental investigation—an attempt "to place sex relations in a new and decisive light"—was published by the Vienna publishers Braumüller & Co. The book contained his thesis to which three vital chapters were added: (XII) The Nature of Woman and her Relation to the Universe, (XIII) Judaism, (XIV) Women and Humanity.

While the book was not received negatively, it did not create the expected stir. Weininger was attacked by Paul Julius Möbius, professor in Leipzig and author of the book On the Physiological Deficiency of Women, and was accused of plagiarizing. Deeply disappointed and tortured by doubts, Weininger left for Italy.

Back in Vienna he spent his last five days with his parents. On October 3, he took a room in the house in Schwarzspanierstraße 15 where Ludwig van Beethoven died. He told the landlady that he was not to be disturbed before morning since he planned to work and then to go to bed late. This night he wrote two letters, one addressed to his father, the other one to his brother Richard, telling them that he was going to shoot himself.

On October 4, Weininger was found mortally wounded, having shot himself through the heart. He died in Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus at half past ten that morning. Otto Weininger was buried in the Matzleinsdorf Protestant Cemetery in Vienna. The epitaph by his father translates:

"This stone closes the resting place of a youth whose spirit never found rest on earth. And when he had made known the revelations of his spirit and of his soul, he could no longer bear to be among the living. He sought out the death precinct of one of the greatest in Vienna's Schwarzspanier house, and there destroyed his bodily existence."

Influence on Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein read the book as a schoolboy and was deeply impressed by it, later listing it as one of his influences and recommending it to friends (Ray Monk: Ludwig Wittgenstein, The Duty of Genius, 1990). However, Wittgenstein's deep admiration of Weininger's thought was coupled with a fundamental disagreement with his position. Wittgenstein writes to G.E. Moore: "It isn't necessary or rather not possible to agree with him but the greatness lies in that with which we disagree. It is his enormous mistake which is great." Elsewhere Wittgenstein put the same point by saying that if one were to add a negation sign before the whole of Sex and Character, one would have expressed a great truth; that is, he did not disagree with Weininger point by point but as a whole. The themes of the decay of modern civilization and the duty to perfect one's genius occur repeatedly in Wittgenstein's later writings.^[which?]

Physiognomy

Weiniger's friend Artur Gerber gave a description of Weiniger's physiognomy in "ECCE HOMO", preface to Taschenbuch und Briefe an einen Freund (E. P. Tal & Co., Leipzig/Vienna 1922):

“

Nobody who had once seen his face could ever forget it. The big dome of his forehead marked it. The face was peculiar looking because of the large eyes; the look in them seemed to surround everything. In spite of his youth, his face was not handsome, it was rather ugly. Never did I see him laugh or smile. His face was always dignified and serious. Only when he was outdoors in spring did it seem to relax, and then become cheerful and bright. At many concerts he would shine with happiness. In the most wonderful moments we spent together, particularly when he talked about an idea in which he was interested, his eyes were filled with happiness. Otherwise his face was impenetrable. One could never—except to the last few months—find in his face any hint of what was happening deep within his soul. The taut muscles would often move, and sharp wrinkles would appear on his face, as if they were caused by intolerable pain. I asked for the reason, he controlled himself at once, gave a vague or evasive answer, or talked about other matters, making further questioning impossible. His manners would occasionally elicit surprise, and often a smile, since he cared little for traditions and prejudices. The influence of his personality seemed strongest at night. His body seemed to grow; there was something ghostlike in his movements and there would be something demoniac in his manner. An when, as happened at times, his conversation became passionate, when he made a movement in the air with his stick or his umbrella as if he were fighting an invisible ghost, one was always reminded of a person from the imaginary circles of E. Th. A. Hofmann.

”

Weininger and the Nazis

Isolated parts of Weininger's writings were used by Nazi propaganda, despite the fact that Weininger actively argued against the ideas of race that came to be identified with the Nazis.^{[citation needed]}

Weininger's works

• Weininger, Otto. Geschlecht und Charakter: Eine prinzipielle Untersuchung, Vienna, Leipzig 1903, original German text, English translation
• Weininger, Otto. Collected Aphorisms, Notebook and Letters to a Friend. Martin Dudaniec (trans.) Free Download(PDF) 2002. ISBN 0-9581336-2-X English translation
• Weininger, Otto. Sex and Character: An Investigation Of Fundamental Principles. Ladislaus Löb (trans.) Indiana University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-253-34471-9
• Weininger, Otto. A Translation of Weininger's Über die letzten Dinge (1904/1907)/On Last Things. Steven Burns (trans.) Edwin Mellen Press, 2001. ISBN 0-7734-7400-5

Further reading

• Nancy Harrowitz, Barbara Hyams (eds). Jews and Gender: Responses to Otto Weininger. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995 ISBN 1-56639-249-7. Table of Contents & Chapter 1
• Abrahamsen, David. The Mind and Death of a Genius. New York: Columbia University Press, 1946.
• Sengoopta, Chandak. Otto Weininger: Sex, Science, and Self in Imperial Vienna University of Chicago Press, 2000 ISBN 0-226-74867-7
• Stern, David G. and Béla Szabados (eds). Wittgenstein Reads Weininger. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-521-53260-4

External links

• Weininger Photos and Gravesite
• Testimony by Weininger's friend Artur Gerber
• Sex & character Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.
• Works by Weininger, on the Internet Archive

References

1. ^ Harrowitz, Nancy; Hyams, Barbara, eds (1995). Jews and Gender: Responses to Otto Weininger. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-249-7. 

See also: Weininger

Persondata
Name	Weininger, Otto
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 3, 1880
Place of birth	Vienna, Austria
Date of death	October 4, 1903
Place of death	Vienna, Austria