Abrahamsen:
In reply to your letter of the third of this month, we hereby in-
form you that Otto Weininger is registered in our Record of Births
for the year 1880.
In reply to your letter of the third of this month, we hereby in-
form you that Otto Weininger is registered in our Record of Births
for the year 1880.
Weininger - 1946 - Mind and Death of a Genius
Only thus could he obtain the satisfaction
otherwise denied to him. Through symbols and images his
repressed desires were able to pass the censor of his unconscious.
If we may label as "inspiration" the unconscious element
in a work of art while considering the formative part as pos-
sibly being conscious, then Weininger's "inspiration" lay in
the process of aesthetic disguise. Through it the conscious ideas
emerged out of the unconscious and rose to artistic expression.
1? Hans Gruhle, Psychopathie und Insinn (Berlin, 1932, Neue Deutsche Klinik,
Band IX).
20 Jaspers, Strindberg and Von Gogh, p. 87.
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? 192
Genius and Insanity
It may well be that this same sort of "inspiration" is to be seen
generally in creative artists. 21
Like Van Gogh, Strindberg, and Holderlin, Weininger lived
under the shadow of schizophrenia. His experiences were col-
ored by it, and ideas emerged which might not have revealed
themselves so obviously but for his diseased condition. There
seems no explanation for the change in his style except schizo-
phrenia.
It must be remembered that the schizophrenic process does
not always lead to the typical stupor. Other forms are not
marked by this destruction of the brain, forms in which the
subject goes through various phases and stages in development
of the personality.
A mental process and a development of the personality dif-
fer in nature. A process is marked by definite deviation from
previous living, and change away from the original structure of
the personality is thereafter progressive. A development of the
personality, on the other hand, means only mental growth and
maturation while relationships with the environment and ex-
periences remain normal.
Was Weininger's case one of personality development or
abnormal process? If we decide that his whole development,
ending with his suicide, was a progress to maturity, even if it
reached overmaturity, we must conclude that he suffered from
a neurosis. This diagnosis is, however, unacceptable, even
though in the maturing process crises may occur that are re-
markably similar to certain forms of schizophrenia. Nor can
the term ambulatory schizophrenia be applied to the state of
mind of such a highly gifted man.
Apart from the reaction formation based on his narcissism,
there appeared certain changes in his personality which did
not lead his personality back to its previous shape. The
changes to a certain extent formed a continuation of his orig-
inal structure, with certain elements growing, other elements
21 Else Pappenheim and Ernst Kris, "The Function of Drawings and the
Meaning of the 'Creative Spell' in a Schizophrenic Artist," The Psychoanalytic
Quarterly, XV (1946), 6.
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? Genius and Insanity 193
being destroyed. Finally, his behavior on the November night
of 1902 argues against any theory of development of his per-
sonality. His case must be considered as mental process.
Yet this explanation is not fully satisfactory. His personality
make-up and his philosophy on the one hand, his philosophy
and his psychosis on the other, were unbreakably connected
during the course of his development. Consequently we must
assume that in him personal development and mental process
were fused in a manner similar to that shown in Strindberg.
This view is, however, possible only when we discard the
standard definitions of development and process and substi-
tute for them terms describing psychological phenomena. Ac-
tually there are many phenomena which cannot be classified
as one or the other but partake of the nature of both.
It must be remembered that schizophrenia is varied in form
and may have a different meaning according to the situation.
Schizophrenia may mean a broad way of experiencing events,
it may mean a world of an amazing totality which we cannot
at present define. It may be considered as a form of maladjust-
ment characterized by some specific sort of change in think-
ing, feeling, or behavior. Thus, schizophrenia is not a disease
or a group of diseases. It seems to be a disorganization of the
personality which takes place in accord with the stress and
strain of life, finally ending in a failure to adapt to actuality.
These things being true, schizophrenia may be a great real-
ity which today we cannot measure objectively. In this sense,
Weininger's life can be seen as both a personality develop-
ment and a mental process of schizophrenic nature.
To say that his mind was diseased does not detract from
the merit of his work, since science, art, and poetry may be
judged only according to their truth and beauty. As has been
said earlier, disease may further valuable thought. 22
12 Another gifted man, Auguste Comte, spent a year in a hospital for the insane
two years before the publication of Cours de philosophie positive, on which he
had worked fourteen years. Beethoven's father was a drunkard, and he himself,
even before he acquired his ear disease, became seclusive, frequently changed
his residence without cause, and had a tendency to a washing mania.
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? 194 Genius and Insanity
Weininger's mental conflicts were the source of his fame.
They were the means of a constant inner revival as psychol-
ogist and writer, as philosopher and man, and were also the
cause of great pain. "The true liberation of the mind," he
wrote in Sex and Character (p. 94), "cannot be secured by a
great, violent army; every single individual must alone fight
for it Against whom? Against the enemies in his own soul. "
That was the foe Weininger was fighting in his struggle, and
he came out the loser. His life is one more page in the history
of human thought and mental disease.
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? Bibliography, Appendix, and Index
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? Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in the text to refer to cer-
tain frequently quoted books.
Der Fall Ferdinand Probst, Der Fall Otto Weininger:
Eine psychiatrische Studie, in Grenzfragen des
Nerven- und Seelenlebens. Wiesbaden, 1904.
Ewald Oskar Ewald (pseudonym of Oskar Fried-
la? nder), Die Erweckung. Berlin, 1922.
Lucka Emil Lucka, Otto Weininger: Der Mensch und
sein Werk. Vienna, 1905.
Swoboda Hermann Swoboda, Otto Weiningers Tod. Vi-
enna, 1911.
Taschenbuch Otto Weininger, Taschenbuch und Briefe an
einem Freund, edited by Arthur Gerber. Leipzig
and Vienna, 1919.
U. L. D. Otto Weininger, U? ber die letzten Dinge, edited
with a biographical foreword, by M. Rappaport.
Vienna, 1903. 9th ed. , Vienna, 1930.
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? Bibliographic
Note
Since Sex and Character was published, many books and articles
have been written for and against this work and its author. In Au-
gust, 1903, one Dr. Schneider wrote a sharp article against Otto
Weininger in Beilage zur allgemeinen Zeitung, No. 292. In the
same year Sex and Character was attacked by P. J. Mbbius in
Schmidts Jahrbucher der gesammten Medizin, pp. 210-15. This
article the author followed up in November of the same year with a
biting criticism in a pamphlet entitled, like the review, Geschlecht
und Unbescheidenheit (Sex and Immodesty). In 1904 Ferdinand
Probst, then assistant doctor at the Insane Hospital in Munich,
wrote a study entitled Der Fall Otto Weininger (The Case of Otto
Weininger), published in Grenzfragen des Nerven- und Seelen-
lebens (Wiesbaden, 1904). He attacked Weininger and attempted
to make a psychiatric analysis of man and book. In Die Wage,
No. 45, November, 1904, an article by Wilhelm Stekel, "Der Fall
Otto Weininger," appeared in defense of Weininger, while an
article by Margarethe Gellert (pseudonym of Grete Meisl-Hess)
criticized Weininger's views.
In Norway, Hulda Garborg wrote a book which was published
anonymously in 1904; in it she discussed Otto Weininger's views on
women and used some of the main points of Sex and Character as
the frame for an account of her own life. The little book sold 15,000
copies in four months. Shortly afterwards, also in 1904, an article
appeared in Samtiden, published in Oslo; in this Dr. Andr. M. Han-
sen stated that "there can be no doubt that this [the book] is a
contribution of an importance far beyond the sensational--a far-
reaching thought for today. "
In the same year Dr. Henrik A. Th. Dedichen, in an essay pub-
lished in Tidskrift for Nordisk Retsmedicin og Psykiatri, IV (1904),
gave a good picture of Weininger. He finally reached the conclusion
that Weininger was insane, without stating in any detail the sort of
psychosis he was suffering.
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? 198 Bibliography
In 1904 Professor Ragnar Vogt wrote a review of Sex and Char-
acter for Tidskrift for den Norske Legeforening, in which he praised
the style and plan in the book but at the same time stated that
"Weininger will hardly find any supporters for his inconvenient
conclusions. "
In the same periodical, in 1905, Dr. Paul Winge had an article
discussing the basic problems in Sex and Character. To complete
the list of Norwegian literature on Weininger, mention must be
made of an article by Ronald Fangen in Samtiden in 1916, later re-
printed in his book, Streiftog i Diktning og Tenkning; and an article
by Professor S. Laache in the same periodical in 1920. Professor
Laache discusses Otto Weininger in a general consideration of
genius as a biological problem. He concluded that any final analysis
of the mental life of Otto Weininger must be problematic, and he
quoted Falret: "What is normal? What is insanity? Those are ques-
tions I dare not answer. "
In the Danish periodical, Det nye Arhundre, Erik A. Faber had
an article which contained the judgment that there was hardly
any prospect of Otto Weininger's becoming "the creator of a new,
universal religion, as he seems to have expected in his exaggerated
self-esteem. "
Several of Weininger's friends and acquaintances also wrote con-
cerning him. Emil Lucka, at the request of Leopold Weininger,
wrote a book that was offered as an unbiased appraisal of Weinin-
ger's life and work in answer to Probst's criticism. This was Otto
Weininger: Der Mensch und sein Werk, published at Vienna in
1905. He also wrote articles on Weininger and his life which ap-
peared in Die Fackel (October 17, 1903), in Neue Bahnen fur
Kunst und offentliches Leben (December, 1903, and January,
1904) and in Der Tag (January 3, 1923). Another friend, Her-
mann Swoboda, wrote an answer to the claims of Wilhelm Fliess
in Die gemeinniitzige Forschung und der eigenniitzige Forscher,
published in Vienna in 1906, and also a book on Weininger's death,
Otto Weiningers Tod, published in the same city five years later.
Oskar Friedlander, who wrote under the pseudonym Oskar Ewald,
included material on Weininger in Die Erweckung, published in
Berlin in 1922. There is, of course, also material in the introduction
by M. Rappaport to Vber die letzten Dinge (Vienna, 1907) and
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? Bibliography 199
the account given by Arthur Gerber in his edition of Taschenbuch
(Vienna, 1919).
One of the essays in John Landquist's Filosofiske Essay er (Stock-
holm, 1906) was devoted to Weininger. Carl Dallago wrote a val-
uable study, Otto Weininger und sein Werk, which was published
at Innsbruck in 1912, and Weininger was one of the figures studied
in Andre Spire's Quelques juifs (Paris, 1913).
Several works were later written by men too young to be con-
temporaries of Weininger. These included an impressive study by
Georg Klaren, Otto Weininger, der Mensch, sein Werk und sein
Leben (Vienna, 1924), a study of Weininger-'s ethical views by
Paul Biro, Die Sittlichkeitsmetaphysik Otto Weiningers (Vienna,
1927), doctoral dissertations by Leopold Thaler and Johannes Zun-
zer, and various other works. Weininger is also mentioned in count-
less discussions of the sex problem. Some of these studies and other
writings with pertinent information have been cited in the foot-
notes.
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? Appendix
LETTER I
Vienna, March 6, 1938
Dear Dr.
Abrahamsen:
In reply to your letter of the third of this month, we hereby in-
form you that Otto Weininger is registered in our Record of Births
for the year 1880. He was born April 3,1880. His father's name was
Leopold, his mother's Adelheid, nee Frey. His Hebrew name was
Schlomoh. The date of his circumcision, as well as the name of
the surgeon who performed it and his Jewish descent, can be shown.
Whether Otto attended any Jewish school or as a boy showed
any interest in the Jewish religion we are not able to say on the
basis of our registries.
In any case, he left the Jewish Congregation on May 28, 1902.
We hope that these details have served you satisfactorily.
Very faithfully yours,
Matrtkelamt der Israelitischen
kultusgemeinde in wien
Der Matrikenfuhrer
LETTER II
Vienna, March 5, 1938
Dear Doctor:
My reply to your friendly letter must, I regret to say, disappoint
you, because I am not able to say more about Weininger than I
have said in my little book about him. . . .
You say that in Scandinavia almost nothing is known about
Weininger. However, shortly after the German edition of Sex and
Character, a Danish edition appeared, of which you perhaps know.
I believe that Weininger was not personally known to Professor
Sigmund Freud, but he was interested in his theory of hysteria and
also perhaps learned much from him.
Professor Avenarius--you mean Richard Avenarius, the author of
Kritik der reinen Erfahrung--was not known to Otto Weininger;
at least he was not in the beginning influenced by Avenarius. In the
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? 202
Appendix
latter part of his work he disregarded positivistic philosophy and
turned to Plato and the philosophy of the German idealists, par-
ticularly Schilling.
These fews things will probably not help you very much, but I
have answered your questions as well as I could.
Very faithfully yours,
Emil Lucka
LETTER III
Budapest, March 9, 1938
Dear Doctor:
I am glad to know you through your letters. In the last years my
brother lived I was with him, and I can answer your questions. I am
glad that I thereby can be of service to you.
Otto did not personally know Professor Freud and to the best of
my knowledge never dealt with his works.
Otto's personal experiences with women did not influence him.
Please find an enclosed study by one of my young friends, Doctor
Paul Biro, who at twenty dealt very much with philosophy. . . .
Perhaps you can find something in this book which is unknown
to you and from which you may perhaps benefit.
I will photograph two poems written by Otto when he was a
student, which he gave me, and I will send them to you in a few
days.
You have not annoyed me at all. If you should come to visit here
sometime, I would like to see you. . . .
With kindest regards,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
LETTER IV
3-14-38
Vienna IX--19 Berggasse
Dear Doctor:
My relations to Otto Weininger were very complicated. It is not
possible to describe them in a short letter. A long thesis would be
necessary. I was the first one to read through his manuscript--and
the first to give an unfavorable opinion of it. His principal idea he
also got through me indirectly, and in a quite inaccurate way.
Yours sincerely,
Sigmund Freud
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? Appendix 203
LETTER V
Vienna
Grinzinger Allee
March 26, 1938
Dear Doctor:
I was a close friend of Otto Weininger, and his personality is still
of continuing importance to me. . . .
The power of his influence was in the human impulse which ac-
companied him and which expressed itself in all his shortcomings
and all his immaturity (he was just twenty! ). He was concerned
with humanity--all humanity, not just a part of it. He conceived
the idea that there is a living unity of the individual and the uni-
verse; his basic attitude was beyond sex. As a measure of pure hu-
manity, he acknowledged the superiority, the triumph of the spirit-
ual character over sex, a mastering of every drive--or, as it should be
called, what in human beings is more than man or woman. . . .
The dimensions of his thinking and creation were in accord with
his personality. His life was practically a restless process of contin-
uation which gave to every one of his statements a touch of religious
initiation, of clear apocalyptic growth.
Weininger's works are known to you. His book Taschenbuch
appeared at the end of the war. This book (with some letters) was
for a long time in Dr. Arthur Gerber's possession, and he gave me
this book in 1919. The book was deciphered by our mutual efforts.
It mainly contained notes of personal and weltanschavlicher nature,
which throw light chiefly upon his last days.
Allow me to mention that I have already published a book, Die
Erweckung (Berlin, Ernst Hofmann), in which I wrote a quite
extensive chapter about my experiences with Otto Weininger. I
regret to say that I do not have a copy. I would, of course, have sent
it to you if I had.
I greet you with sincerity, and I would be happy to meet you in
person.
Sincerely yours,
OSKAR EWALD
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? 204 Appendix
LETTER VI
Budapest
August 27, 1938
Dear Dr. Abrahamsen:
I beg your forgiveness for not having answered sooner--
(1) The next time I will send you a good photograph of Otto.
(2) 1 have a photograph which has never before been published.
(3) I had the good fortune to live with my brother. I was five
years younger than he.
(4) Otto's musical disposition: We had a glorious father. When
Otto was six yean old my father took him to hear FTeischutz, and
when he was eight my father took him to hear Meistersinger.
(5) Otto was talented in philology and my father wanted him to
go into the Consular Academy. My mother was a fine, good, simple
woman, housewife and mother. My father was austere in his dis-
cipline, divine in his goodness . . . personality. He was rigid in his
criticism. His marriage to my mother was not very successful; he
always meant to do his best, as she did also, but he made enormous
demands upon his wife and children.
(6) We are not descendants of Cellini. My father was Jewish, as
was my mother. My father was highly anti-Semitic, but he thought
as a Jew and was angry when Otto wrote against Judaism.
Do you know what was written on Otto's tomb? If not, I will
tell you. I do not believe that Freud read Otto's manuscript. To my
knowledge Otto did not know him personally.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Weininger
<<
LETTER VII
Florianigasse 13
Vienna
September 10, 1938
Dear Doctor Abrahamsen:
My remark about Benevenuto Cellini's family was not meant in
the sense that there was a real family relationship between Leopold
Weininger and Cellini--there can, of course, be no question of that.
I meant that the goldsmith's art, which is closely connected with
the name of Cellini, slowly vanished and that Leopold Weininger
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? Appendix 205
was one of the last--in Austria perhaps the last--masters of this
noble art.
Of course, I am very interested in seeing the comparison of these
two. Your work is important to me, and even though I am not
able to understand it very well, I would be grateful if you would
send me a copy of your book. You can, of course, use my letters as
you wish.
Hearty greetings. I would be happy to make your personal ac-
quaintance. In appreciation and with cordial sympathy,
Yours,
Emil Lucka
LETTER VIII
December 30, 1938
Vienna VIII, 13 Florianigasse
Dear Doctor Abrahamsen:
With regard to Otto Weininger, he was not epileptic or insane
or schizophrenic. His many friends would have noticed it. Professor
Hermann Swoboda at the University of Vienna, who was a friend
of his, was of the opinion that Otto Weininger had signs of hysteria.
I cannot judge of that, but I have no doubt that he was mentally
normal. I knew his father quite well. He was a kind man and a very
gifted artist (or, as he called himself, a craftsman) who created
works in enamel, metal, glass, bronze, etc. This very last art, which
was much practiced during the time of the Renaissance, appears to
have died with him. He was famous in all Europe, and his works
were very highly praised. I knew very little of Otto Weininger's
mother; she was quite normal, as well as her . . . one brother and
two sisters, who in all probability are still living. I have, however,
no connection with them. I know nothing of a mental disease in
the family.
Perhaps you would be interested in knowing that Otto Weininger
had a great liking for Norway and its authors, particularly Ibsen
and Hamsun, and that he visited that country. He considered Ibsen
as the greatest author of all time, but that was not my opinion.
Perhaps this information can help a little. In the meantime I
greet you sincerely, and am
Very sincerely yours,
Emil Lucka
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? 206 Appendix
LETTER IX !
Budapest
January, 1939
Dear Doctor:
About all: In our family there was never any insanity or an in-
sane man. My brother Otto was never an epileptic. Clear-seeing
people are many times considered as mentally diseased. Otto was
always healthy, and I lived during my youth with him. In the last
part of his life, however, his body was weakened by the many nights
when he worked by candlelight. His nervous system suffered, as you
can see in his writings (U. L. D. ).
However, on the surface nothing untoward could be noticed.
There was a great sensibility--he was particularly sensitive to loud
and high-pitched voices, but never could a mental defect be de-
tected in his behavior.
I am glad to know that you are in the North.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
LETTER X
Budapest
4-26-39
Dear Doctor: <
There was no insanity in our family. My father was of strong
mentality. He had only one brother, who was handsome, charming,
frivolous. He died quite young. My father also had four sisters, but
they were unimportant.
My brother, Richard, is fifty-two years old. He is very handsome
and very gifted, and he is wealthy. He is an Epicurean with a femi-
nine disposition, vain, very hard, and a lady's man. He lives in
America. It is a principle with him not to see his family. When he
was young he caused many difficulties for my father. He is the
sort of man who will always influence everybody. He has a great
sense of beauty. He would walk over your dead body, but he may
also give shelter to a beggar when he is in a good mood and when
he is admired. He definitely is not an ordinary man. The exact op
posite to Otto, but not a happy man. An athlete, polo player, aviator,
etc.
With thanks and love,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
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? Appendix 207
LETTER XI
Budapest
5-10-39
Dear Doctor:
No, Richard, my brother, never committed any criminal act, but
he was unscrupulous and avaricious. He was married twice, to very
wealthy women. He would walk over your dead body if it were to
his advantage. He will show goodness when least expected. He is
hungry for sensation, audience, applause. . . .
Hearty regards,
Rosa Weininger
LETTER XII
Budapest
May 15, 1939
Dear Doctor:
My father looked like Nietzsche.
On my brother's tomb my father placed this inscription: "This
stone marks the resting place of a young man whose spirit found
no peace in this world. When he had delivered the message of his
soul, he could no longer remain among the living. He betook him-
self to the place of death of one of the greatest of all men, the
Schwarzspanierhaus in Vienna, and there destroyed his mortal
body. "
Otto was five feet and eight inches in height. I do not have the
first edition of Vber die letzten Dinge, but I will try to find it.
otherwise denied to him. Through symbols and images his
repressed desires were able to pass the censor of his unconscious.
If we may label as "inspiration" the unconscious element
in a work of art while considering the formative part as pos-
sibly being conscious, then Weininger's "inspiration" lay in
the process of aesthetic disguise. Through it the conscious ideas
emerged out of the unconscious and rose to artistic expression.
1? Hans Gruhle, Psychopathie und Insinn (Berlin, 1932, Neue Deutsche Klinik,
Band IX).
20 Jaspers, Strindberg and Von Gogh, p. 87.
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? 192
Genius and Insanity
It may well be that this same sort of "inspiration" is to be seen
generally in creative artists. 21
Like Van Gogh, Strindberg, and Holderlin, Weininger lived
under the shadow of schizophrenia. His experiences were col-
ored by it, and ideas emerged which might not have revealed
themselves so obviously but for his diseased condition. There
seems no explanation for the change in his style except schizo-
phrenia.
It must be remembered that the schizophrenic process does
not always lead to the typical stupor. Other forms are not
marked by this destruction of the brain, forms in which the
subject goes through various phases and stages in development
of the personality.
A mental process and a development of the personality dif-
fer in nature. A process is marked by definite deviation from
previous living, and change away from the original structure of
the personality is thereafter progressive. A development of the
personality, on the other hand, means only mental growth and
maturation while relationships with the environment and ex-
periences remain normal.
Was Weininger's case one of personality development or
abnormal process? If we decide that his whole development,
ending with his suicide, was a progress to maturity, even if it
reached overmaturity, we must conclude that he suffered from
a neurosis. This diagnosis is, however, unacceptable, even
though in the maturing process crises may occur that are re-
markably similar to certain forms of schizophrenia. Nor can
the term ambulatory schizophrenia be applied to the state of
mind of such a highly gifted man.
Apart from the reaction formation based on his narcissism,
there appeared certain changes in his personality which did
not lead his personality back to its previous shape. The
changes to a certain extent formed a continuation of his orig-
inal structure, with certain elements growing, other elements
21 Else Pappenheim and Ernst Kris, "The Function of Drawings and the
Meaning of the 'Creative Spell' in a Schizophrenic Artist," The Psychoanalytic
Quarterly, XV (1946), 6.
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? Genius and Insanity 193
being destroyed. Finally, his behavior on the November night
of 1902 argues against any theory of development of his per-
sonality. His case must be considered as mental process.
Yet this explanation is not fully satisfactory. His personality
make-up and his philosophy on the one hand, his philosophy
and his psychosis on the other, were unbreakably connected
during the course of his development. Consequently we must
assume that in him personal development and mental process
were fused in a manner similar to that shown in Strindberg.
This view is, however, possible only when we discard the
standard definitions of development and process and substi-
tute for them terms describing psychological phenomena. Ac-
tually there are many phenomena which cannot be classified
as one or the other but partake of the nature of both.
It must be remembered that schizophrenia is varied in form
and may have a different meaning according to the situation.
Schizophrenia may mean a broad way of experiencing events,
it may mean a world of an amazing totality which we cannot
at present define. It may be considered as a form of maladjust-
ment characterized by some specific sort of change in think-
ing, feeling, or behavior. Thus, schizophrenia is not a disease
or a group of diseases. It seems to be a disorganization of the
personality which takes place in accord with the stress and
strain of life, finally ending in a failure to adapt to actuality.
These things being true, schizophrenia may be a great real-
ity which today we cannot measure objectively. In this sense,
Weininger's life can be seen as both a personality develop-
ment and a mental process of schizophrenic nature.
To say that his mind was diseased does not detract from
the merit of his work, since science, art, and poetry may be
judged only according to their truth and beauty. As has been
said earlier, disease may further valuable thought. 22
12 Another gifted man, Auguste Comte, spent a year in a hospital for the insane
two years before the publication of Cours de philosophie positive, on which he
had worked fourteen years. Beethoven's father was a drunkard, and he himself,
even before he acquired his ear disease, became seclusive, frequently changed
his residence without cause, and had a tendency to a washing mania.
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? 194 Genius and Insanity
Weininger's mental conflicts were the source of his fame.
They were the means of a constant inner revival as psychol-
ogist and writer, as philosopher and man, and were also the
cause of great pain. "The true liberation of the mind," he
wrote in Sex and Character (p. 94), "cannot be secured by a
great, violent army; every single individual must alone fight
for it Against whom? Against the enemies in his own soul. "
That was the foe Weininger was fighting in his struggle, and
he came out the loser. His life is one more page in the history
of human thought and mental disease.
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? Bibliography, Appendix, and Index
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? Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in the text to refer to cer-
tain frequently quoted books.
Der Fall Ferdinand Probst, Der Fall Otto Weininger:
Eine psychiatrische Studie, in Grenzfragen des
Nerven- und Seelenlebens. Wiesbaden, 1904.
Ewald Oskar Ewald (pseudonym of Oskar Fried-
la? nder), Die Erweckung. Berlin, 1922.
Lucka Emil Lucka, Otto Weininger: Der Mensch und
sein Werk. Vienna, 1905.
Swoboda Hermann Swoboda, Otto Weiningers Tod. Vi-
enna, 1911.
Taschenbuch Otto Weininger, Taschenbuch und Briefe an
einem Freund, edited by Arthur Gerber. Leipzig
and Vienna, 1919.
U. L. D. Otto Weininger, U? ber die letzten Dinge, edited
with a biographical foreword, by M. Rappaport.
Vienna, 1903. 9th ed. , Vienna, 1930.
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? Bibliographic
Note
Since Sex and Character was published, many books and articles
have been written for and against this work and its author. In Au-
gust, 1903, one Dr. Schneider wrote a sharp article against Otto
Weininger in Beilage zur allgemeinen Zeitung, No. 292. In the
same year Sex and Character was attacked by P. J. Mbbius in
Schmidts Jahrbucher der gesammten Medizin, pp. 210-15. This
article the author followed up in November of the same year with a
biting criticism in a pamphlet entitled, like the review, Geschlecht
und Unbescheidenheit (Sex and Immodesty). In 1904 Ferdinand
Probst, then assistant doctor at the Insane Hospital in Munich,
wrote a study entitled Der Fall Otto Weininger (The Case of Otto
Weininger), published in Grenzfragen des Nerven- und Seelen-
lebens (Wiesbaden, 1904). He attacked Weininger and attempted
to make a psychiatric analysis of man and book. In Die Wage,
No. 45, November, 1904, an article by Wilhelm Stekel, "Der Fall
Otto Weininger," appeared in defense of Weininger, while an
article by Margarethe Gellert (pseudonym of Grete Meisl-Hess)
criticized Weininger's views.
In Norway, Hulda Garborg wrote a book which was published
anonymously in 1904; in it she discussed Otto Weininger's views on
women and used some of the main points of Sex and Character as
the frame for an account of her own life. The little book sold 15,000
copies in four months. Shortly afterwards, also in 1904, an article
appeared in Samtiden, published in Oslo; in this Dr. Andr. M. Han-
sen stated that "there can be no doubt that this [the book] is a
contribution of an importance far beyond the sensational--a far-
reaching thought for today. "
In the same year Dr. Henrik A. Th. Dedichen, in an essay pub-
lished in Tidskrift for Nordisk Retsmedicin og Psykiatri, IV (1904),
gave a good picture of Weininger. He finally reached the conclusion
that Weininger was insane, without stating in any detail the sort of
psychosis he was suffering.
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? 198 Bibliography
In 1904 Professor Ragnar Vogt wrote a review of Sex and Char-
acter for Tidskrift for den Norske Legeforening, in which he praised
the style and plan in the book but at the same time stated that
"Weininger will hardly find any supporters for his inconvenient
conclusions. "
In the same periodical, in 1905, Dr. Paul Winge had an article
discussing the basic problems in Sex and Character. To complete
the list of Norwegian literature on Weininger, mention must be
made of an article by Ronald Fangen in Samtiden in 1916, later re-
printed in his book, Streiftog i Diktning og Tenkning; and an article
by Professor S. Laache in the same periodical in 1920. Professor
Laache discusses Otto Weininger in a general consideration of
genius as a biological problem. He concluded that any final analysis
of the mental life of Otto Weininger must be problematic, and he
quoted Falret: "What is normal? What is insanity? Those are ques-
tions I dare not answer. "
In the Danish periodical, Det nye Arhundre, Erik A. Faber had
an article which contained the judgment that there was hardly
any prospect of Otto Weininger's becoming "the creator of a new,
universal religion, as he seems to have expected in his exaggerated
self-esteem. "
Several of Weininger's friends and acquaintances also wrote con-
cerning him. Emil Lucka, at the request of Leopold Weininger,
wrote a book that was offered as an unbiased appraisal of Weinin-
ger's life and work in answer to Probst's criticism. This was Otto
Weininger: Der Mensch und sein Werk, published at Vienna in
1905. He also wrote articles on Weininger and his life which ap-
peared in Die Fackel (October 17, 1903), in Neue Bahnen fur
Kunst und offentliches Leben (December, 1903, and January,
1904) and in Der Tag (January 3, 1923). Another friend, Her-
mann Swoboda, wrote an answer to the claims of Wilhelm Fliess
in Die gemeinniitzige Forschung und der eigenniitzige Forscher,
published in Vienna in 1906, and also a book on Weininger's death,
Otto Weiningers Tod, published in the same city five years later.
Oskar Friedlander, who wrote under the pseudonym Oskar Ewald,
included material on Weininger in Die Erweckung, published in
Berlin in 1922. There is, of course, also material in the introduction
by M. Rappaport to Vber die letzten Dinge (Vienna, 1907) and
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? Bibliography 199
the account given by Arthur Gerber in his edition of Taschenbuch
(Vienna, 1919).
One of the essays in John Landquist's Filosofiske Essay er (Stock-
holm, 1906) was devoted to Weininger. Carl Dallago wrote a val-
uable study, Otto Weininger und sein Werk, which was published
at Innsbruck in 1912, and Weininger was one of the figures studied
in Andre Spire's Quelques juifs (Paris, 1913).
Several works were later written by men too young to be con-
temporaries of Weininger. These included an impressive study by
Georg Klaren, Otto Weininger, der Mensch, sein Werk und sein
Leben (Vienna, 1924), a study of Weininger-'s ethical views by
Paul Biro, Die Sittlichkeitsmetaphysik Otto Weiningers (Vienna,
1927), doctoral dissertations by Leopold Thaler and Johannes Zun-
zer, and various other works. Weininger is also mentioned in count-
less discussions of the sex problem. Some of these studies and other
writings with pertinent information have been cited in the foot-
notes.
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? Appendix
LETTER I
Vienna, March 6, 1938
Dear Dr.
Abrahamsen:
In reply to your letter of the third of this month, we hereby in-
form you that Otto Weininger is registered in our Record of Births
for the year 1880. He was born April 3,1880. His father's name was
Leopold, his mother's Adelheid, nee Frey. His Hebrew name was
Schlomoh. The date of his circumcision, as well as the name of
the surgeon who performed it and his Jewish descent, can be shown.
Whether Otto attended any Jewish school or as a boy showed
any interest in the Jewish religion we are not able to say on the
basis of our registries.
In any case, he left the Jewish Congregation on May 28, 1902.
We hope that these details have served you satisfactorily.
Very faithfully yours,
Matrtkelamt der Israelitischen
kultusgemeinde in wien
Der Matrikenfuhrer
LETTER II
Vienna, March 5, 1938
Dear Doctor:
My reply to your friendly letter must, I regret to say, disappoint
you, because I am not able to say more about Weininger than I
have said in my little book about him. . . .
You say that in Scandinavia almost nothing is known about
Weininger. However, shortly after the German edition of Sex and
Character, a Danish edition appeared, of which you perhaps know.
I believe that Weininger was not personally known to Professor
Sigmund Freud, but he was interested in his theory of hysteria and
also perhaps learned much from him.
Professor Avenarius--you mean Richard Avenarius, the author of
Kritik der reinen Erfahrung--was not known to Otto Weininger;
at least he was not in the beginning influenced by Avenarius. In the
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? 202
Appendix
latter part of his work he disregarded positivistic philosophy and
turned to Plato and the philosophy of the German idealists, par-
ticularly Schilling.
These fews things will probably not help you very much, but I
have answered your questions as well as I could.
Very faithfully yours,
Emil Lucka
LETTER III
Budapest, March 9, 1938
Dear Doctor:
I am glad to know you through your letters. In the last years my
brother lived I was with him, and I can answer your questions. I am
glad that I thereby can be of service to you.
Otto did not personally know Professor Freud and to the best of
my knowledge never dealt with his works.
Otto's personal experiences with women did not influence him.
Please find an enclosed study by one of my young friends, Doctor
Paul Biro, who at twenty dealt very much with philosophy. . . .
Perhaps you can find something in this book which is unknown
to you and from which you may perhaps benefit.
I will photograph two poems written by Otto when he was a
student, which he gave me, and I will send them to you in a few
days.
You have not annoyed me at all. If you should come to visit here
sometime, I would like to see you. . . .
With kindest regards,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
LETTER IV
3-14-38
Vienna IX--19 Berggasse
Dear Doctor:
My relations to Otto Weininger were very complicated. It is not
possible to describe them in a short letter. A long thesis would be
necessary. I was the first one to read through his manuscript--and
the first to give an unfavorable opinion of it. His principal idea he
also got through me indirectly, and in a quite inaccurate way.
Yours sincerely,
Sigmund Freud
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? Appendix 203
LETTER V
Vienna
Grinzinger Allee
March 26, 1938
Dear Doctor:
I was a close friend of Otto Weininger, and his personality is still
of continuing importance to me. . . .
The power of his influence was in the human impulse which ac-
companied him and which expressed itself in all his shortcomings
and all his immaturity (he was just twenty! ). He was concerned
with humanity--all humanity, not just a part of it. He conceived
the idea that there is a living unity of the individual and the uni-
verse; his basic attitude was beyond sex. As a measure of pure hu-
manity, he acknowledged the superiority, the triumph of the spirit-
ual character over sex, a mastering of every drive--or, as it should be
called, what in human beings is more than man or woman. . . .
The dimensions of his thinking and creation were in accord with
his personality. His life was practically a restless process of contin-
uation which gave to every one of his statements a touch of religious
initiation, of clear apocalyptic growth.
Weininger's works are known to you. His book Taschenbuch
appeared at the end of the war. This book (with some letters) was
for a long time in Dr. Arthur Gerber's possession, and he gave me
this book in 1919. The book was deciphered by our mutual efforts.
It mainly contained notes of personal and weltanschavlicher nature,
which throw light chiefly upon his last days.
Allow me to mention that I have already published a book, Die
Erweckung (Berlin, Ernst Hofmann), in which I wrote a quite
extensive chapter about my experiences with Otto Weininger. I
regret to say that I do not have a copy. I would, of course, have sent
it to you if I had.
I greet you with sincerity, and I would be happy to meet you in
person.
Sincerely yours,
OSKAR EWALD
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? 204 Appendix
LETTER VI
Budapest
August 27, 1938
Dear Dr. Abrahamsen:
I beg your forgiveness for not having answered sooner--
(1) The next time I will send you a good photograph of Otto.
(2) 1 have a photograph which has never before been published.
(3) I had the good fortune to live with my brother. I was five
years younger than he.
(4) Otto's musical disposition: We had a glorious father. When
Otto was six yean old my father took him to hear FTeischutz, and
when he was eight my father took him to hear Meistersinger.
(5) Otto was talented in philology and my father wanted him to
go into the Consular Academy. My mother was a fine, good, simple
woman, housewife and mother. My father was austere in his dis-
cipline, divine in his goodness . . . personality. He was rigid in his
criticism. His marriage to my mother was not very successful; he
always meant to do his best, as she did also, but he made enormous
demands upon his wife and children.
(6) We are not descendants of Cellini. My father was Jewish, as
was my mother. My father was highly anti-Semitic, but he thought
as a Jew and was angry when Otto wrote against Judaism.
Do you know what was written on Otto's tomb? If not, I will
tell you. I do not believe that Freud read Otto's manuscript. To my
knowledge Otto did not know him personally.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Weininger
<<
LETTER VII
Florianigasse 13
Vienna
September 10, 1938
Dear Doctor Abrahamsen:
My remark about Benevenuto Cellini's family was not meant in
the sense that there was a real family relationship between Leopold
Weininger and Cellini--there can, of course, be no question of that.
I meant that the goldsmith's art, which is closely connected with
the name of Cellini, slowly vanished and that Leopold Weininger
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? Appendix 205
was one of the last--in Austria perhaps the last--masters of this
noble art.
Of course, I am very interested in seeing the comparison of these
two. Your work is important to me, and even though I am not
able to understand it very well, I would be grateful if you would
send me a copy of your book. You can, of course, use my letters as
you wish.
Hearty greetings. I would be happy to make your personal ac-
quaintance. In appreciation and with cordial sympathy,
Yours,
Emil Lucka
LETTER VIII
December 30, 1938
Vienna VIII, 13 Florianigasse
Dear Doctor Abrahamsen:
With regard to Otto Weininger, he was not epileptic or insane
or schizophrenic. His many friends would have noticed it. Professor
Hermann Swoboda at the University of Vienna, who was a friend
of his, was of the opinion that Otto Weininger had signs of hysteria.
I cannot judge of that, but I have no doubt that he was mentally
normal. I knew his father quite well. He was a kind man and a very
gifted artist (or, as he called himself, a craftsman) who created
works in enamel, metal, glass, bronze, etc. This very last art, which
was much practiced during the time of the Renaissance, appears to
have died with him. He was famous in all Europe, and his works
were very highly praised. I knew very little of Otto Weininger's
mother; she was quite normal, as well as her . . . one brother and
two sisters, who in all probability are still living. I have, however,
no connection with them. I know nothing of a mental disease in
the family.
Perhaps you would be interested in knowing that Otto Weininger
had a great liking for Norway and its authors, particularly Ibsen
and Hamsun, and that he visited that country. He considered Ibsen
as the greatest author of all time, but that was not my opinion.
Perhaps this information can help a little. In the meantime I
greet you sincerely, and am
Very sincerely yours,
Emil Lucka
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? 206 Appendix
LETTER IX !
Budapest
January, 1939
Dear Doctor:
About all: In our family there was never any insanity or an in-
sane man. My brother Otto was never an epileptic. Clear-seeing
people are many times considered as mentally diseased. Otto was
always healthy, and I lived during my youth with him. In the last
part of his life, however, his body was weakened by the many nights
when he worked by candlelight. His nervous system suffered, as you
can see in his writings (U. L. D. ).
However, on the surface nothing untoward could be noticed.
There was a great sensibility--he was particularly sensitive to loud
and high-pitched voices, but never could a mental defect be de-
tected in his behavior.
I am glad to know that you are in the North.
Cordially yours,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
LETTER X
Budapest
4-26-39
Dear Doctor: <
There was no insanity in our family. My father was of strong
mentality. He had only one brother, who was handsome, charming,
frivolous. He died quite young. My father also had four sisters, but
they were unimportant.
My brother, Richard, is fifty-two years old. He is very handsome
and very gifted, and he is wealthy. He is an Epicurean with a femi-
nine disposition, vain, very hard, and a lady's man. He lives in
America. It is a principle with him not to see his family. When he
was young he caused many difficulties for my father. He is the
sort of man who will always influence everybody. He has a great
sense of beauty. He would walk over your dead body, but he may
also give shelter to a beggar when he is in a good mood and when
he is admired. He definitely is not an ordinary man. The exact op
posite to Otto, but not a happy man. An athlete, polo player, aviator,
etc.
With thanks and love,
Rosa Boschan Weininger
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? Appendix 207
LETTER XI
Budapest
5-10-39
Dear Doctor:
No, Richard, my brother, never committed any criminal act, but
he was unscrupulous and avaricious. He was married twice, to very
wealthy women. He would walk over your dead body if it were to
his advantage. He will show goodness when least expected. He is
hungry for sensation, audience, applause. . . .
Hearty regards,
Rosa Weininger
LETTER XII
Budapest
May 15, 1939
Dear Doctor:
My father looked like Nietzsche.
On my brother's tomb my father placed this inscription: "This
stone marks the resting place of a young man whose spirit found
no peace in this world. When he had delivered the message of his
soul, he could no longer remain among the living. He betook him-
self to the place of death of one of the greatest of all men, the
Schwarzspanierhaus in Vienna, and there destroyed his mortal
body. "
Otto was five feet and eight inches in height. I do not have the
first edition of Vber die letzten Dinge, but I will try to find it.
