Background
Otto Weininger was born on April 3, 1880, in Vienna as a son of the Jewish goldsmith Leopold Weininger and his wife Adelheid.
(Excerpt from Geschlecht und Charakter: Eine Prinzipielle ...)
Excerpt from Geschlecht und Charakter: Eine Prinzipielle Untersuchung Dieses Buch unternimmt es, das Verhältnis der Geschlechter in ein neues, entscheidendes Licht zu rücken. Es sollen nicht möglichst viele einzelne Charakterzüge aneinandergereiht, nicht die Ergebnisse der bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Messungen und Experimente zusammengestellt, sondern die Zurückführung alles Gegensatzes von Mann und Weib auf ein einziges Prinzip versucht werden. Hiedurch unterscheidet es sich von allen anderen Büchern dieser Art. Es verweilt nicht bei diesem oder jenem Idyll, sondern dringt bis zu einem letzten Ziele vor; es häuft nicht Beobachtung auf Beobachtung, sondern bringt die geistigen Differenzen der Geschlechter in ein System; es gilt nicht den Frauen, sondern der Frau. Zwar nimmt es stets das Alltäglichste und Oberflächlichste zu seinem Ausgangspunkt, aber nur, um alle konkrete Einzelerfahrung zu deuten. Und das ist hier nicht induktive Metaphysik, sondern schrittweise psychologische Vertiefung. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1332358160/?tag=2022091-20
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 Friedrich Jodl (de) and Laurenz Müllner (de) 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 in July 1902. 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 seemingly depressed, 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 in the chest. He died in the Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus (Vienna general hospital), and was buried in the Matzleinsdorf Protestant Cemetery in Vienna.
(Excerpt from Geschlecht und Charakter: Eine Prinzipielle ...)
(Turn-of-the century Vienna is remembered as an aesthetic,...)
(Sex and Character (German: Geschlecht und Charakter) is a...)
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.