In this matter
the so-called aesthetic factor, the stimulus of beauty, is entirely
ignored.
the so-called aesthetic factor, the stimulus of beauty, is entirely
ignored.
Weininger - 1946 - Mind and Death of a Genius
.
is just this: there can be no more question of 'I will' but only of 'I must'; you
have helped me across a terrifying precipice, and I am grateful and will always
be grateful to you for it" (Halvdan Koht, "Breve fra Henrik Ibsen" in Samtiden,
1908, p. 91). See also Werner Moring, Ibsen und Kierkegaard, Palaestra 160
(Leipzig, 1928), pp. 54, 55, 90.
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Edge of Fear
curred at one time or another in his life and that this agent has
worked to cause further reactions. Weininger's original per-
sonality during the spring and summer of 1902 went through a
change which was not only permanent but progressive. The im-
portant point is that once the change in the structure of his
personality make-up took place it did not disappear, but re-
mained until a new change took place, according to the pattern
characteristic of schizophrenic cases.
The basic conflict was the psychological expression of deep-
seated difficulties in Weininger. Through the fear he revealed
in this period we can see the basic traits in his personality: his
narcissistic self-protection and self-devoted defense, neurotic in
type. The importance he attributed to this fear must be taken
as a schizophrenic symptom.
The moral struggle in Weininger, then, resulted in morbid
manifestations, which were at first short and violent, but later,
while maintaining their intensity, assumed longer duration, and
finally became constant. This struggle called forth feelings of
abasement, shame, and unworthiness, accompanied by a strong
sense of guilt. The morbid reactions he displayed were acute
motor discharges, sometimes taking the form of fear and anx-
ieties, and sometimes the form of a blind fury against himself,
which reached a temporary climax in his openly confessed sui-
cide plans.
Weininger's bellicose moral attitude developed further and
further in this period until it finally took the form of an asocial
ethic. With the development of social asceticism, which he later
professed, this ethic became self-denying and annihilating. In
his struggle the feeling of guilt was the starting point of the
crisis, the overcoming of that feeling was the content. It in-
volved the contest between his mental extremes. 7
7 The moral hypertrophy--the opposite of moral insanity--which characterized
Weininger's attitude in respect both to his rigorous ethical demands and to the
requirements he stated as an individualist is probably suggestive of a certain
differential schizoid disposition. See Hermann Hoffmann, Vererbung und Seelen-
leben: Einfilhrung in die psychiatrische Konstitutions- und Vererbungslehre
(Berlin, 1922), p. 219.
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? Edge of Fear 101
The story of Weininger's reaction to the sound of a dog bark-
ing in the night shows that he must have suffered an hallucina-
tion. If we take it that he really did hear a dog bark, he must
have had a particularly vivid and impressionistic experience--a
pseudo hallucination--suited to the situation. Such an occur-
rence is quite possible. It often happens that a patient suffer-
ing from an acute psychosis has hallucinatory and pseudo-
hallucinatory deceptions in a confused mixture. And, quite
apart from the incident of that night, Weininger, according to
his own writings, had other experiences that can scarcely be
taken as anything but visionary hallucinations.
If we try to decide what specific type of hallucination he had,
we must note that Weininger seemed to hear imaginary voices
"commanding" him ("I am a born criminal, a born mur-
derer"), and the evidence indicates a definitely psychotic phe-
nomenon. We must remember that hallucinations as such are
not a sort of schizophrenia. Weininger doubted his real experi-
ences and his real thoughts rather than his misinterpretations
and was led to the idea that he must kill himself (imperative
hallucinations). His self-deceptions make it possible for us to
interpret his disturbance as hallucinatory disturbance. In addi-
tion, there appears to be a memory component; the displace-
ment of the events of a November night to July, 1902, resulted
apparently in loss of memory of the correct date. We may
therefore maintain that his disturbances were both hallucina-
tory and mnemonic. Though the incident of the barking dog
was well preserved in his memory, he related it incorrectly, be-
cause the reproduction of what he experienced at one definite
moment was disturbed. The incident was painful, and he sub-
merged it by distorting it. We may surmise that it was not his
memory itself that was disturbed, but rather his capacity for
associative reproduction of something remembered. Such mem-
ory distortion resulted from his narcissistic orientation.
The conclusion that something was lacking in his capacity for
recollection supports the theory that he suffered from a mental
derangement. Even if he seemed to be in contact with the out-
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? 102
Edge of Fear
side world, on this one point he was unable to understand real-
ity. The living connection between him and the outside world
was lost for a short while--his ego was separated from its sur-
roundings. The mere fact that his orientation seemed sound
(and accordingly his reactions seemed sound also) is no argu-
ment against the basic diagnosis. Quite commonly delirious
schizophrenic patients are well oriented in time and space.
As events developed that night, Gerber had to defend the
"murderer" because he did not believe in his guilt. After hours
of discussion, lasting almost until dawn, the only answer to all
of his efforts was: "You cannot persuade me! Let me alone! I
cannot go on living! " The words must be taken as an expression
of introspection, self-judgment, destructive self-criticism, and
devastating self-accusations--all symptoms within the frame-
work of the schizophrenic group. This kind of self-reproach and
self-criticism may often be seen also in the manic-depressive
psychosis. Yet if we remember his whole mood, his complete
mental situation with its practically fixed affective condition, it
is more reasonable to see his self-accusations as of schizophrenic
nature.
His suicide plan was based on a misconception. But this mis-
conception did not endure. By the morning of November 21 the
thought of killing himself had left him. He wanted to live.
When Otto Weininger made his decision, it may have been
because the idea of suicide had actually left him or it may have
been because he wanted to please his friend. The most likely
psychological explanation is that the time had arrived for a more
or less sudden remission of his acute case of disturbance. (As
Gerber said earlier, "The crisis was not yet over. ") His sudden
improvement was also indicated by the fact that he later be-
haved as if nothing had happened although he remembered
clearly what had gone on. When his mental condition improved
as it did, we have one more reason to believe his case was of
schizophrenic nature, since remissions of this sort can be seen
only in schizophrenic persons. The mental disturbance in him
was, however, of a passing kind; there was a slight and momen-
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? Edge of Fear 103
tary improvement before the real one, and the crisis passed only
after several hours. But he seems to have been open to argu-
ment. There was a serious contest between him and Gerber,
and Weininger was temporarily persuaded, not because Ger-
ber's words impressed him, but because his friend wept. He
would go on living. Thus the mental disturbance was over, and
everything seemed to be as before.
It appears that Otto Weininger was trying to pull himself to-
gether. His mental conflicts had brought him to the verge of a
split, but just as they seemed to get the upper hand Weininger
overcame them. His mental split was not too serious for him to
suppress it--at least apparently it was not. Yet one gains the
impression that Weininger barely escaped schizophrenic dis-
ease. It was on the point of overtaking him, it did overtake him,
then it relaxed and he escaped, either because its grip was not
firm enough upon him or because he was strong enough to com-
pose himself and put up enough mental resistance to throw off
the attack. Weininger was that night clear-minded enough to
be able to resist insanity consciously, shocking as the experience
may have been for him. His intelligence was keen enough for
him to realize what was happening, though he was spellbound
by his own experiences and found it hard to get away.
On that November night he came out victor over his own
mental split; at least in the following months he was able to pull
himself together. The experience, however, left its mark on his
mind. From that night emerged a new Weininger, different
from the old.
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? Sex and
Character
Q
ex and character was first published in 1903. It consisted
L-^/of two parts. Of these the first part was Weininger's thesis
for the doctor's degree, which was colored with scientific
thought. It is worth while to summarize what he says in it.
The two general concepts of male and female have come
down to us from primitive mankind. Yet is it really the case that
all women and men are marked off sharply from each other?
Nowhere in nature is there another such pronounced discon-
tinuity. There are transitional forms between the metals and
nonmetals, between animals and plants, and between mam-
mals and birds. From these analogies one might suppose that
there is in nature no sharp cleavage between masculine on the
one side and feminine on the other.
In the controversy about the nature of woman, appeal has
been made to the arbitration of anatomy, in the hflpe that some
anatomical line could be drawn between the inborn and ac-
quired properties of males and those of females. The answer of
the anatomists is clear enough. Absolute sexual distinctions be-
tween all men on the one side and all women on the other do
not exist. Sex cannot be determined with certainty from the
skeleton or from the muscles, tendons, skin, blood, or nerves.
The sex of a human embryo of less than five weeks cannot be
recognized. Sexual differentiation is never complete. All pe-
culiarities of the male sex may be present in the female in some
form, however weakly developed, and so also the sexual charac-
teristics of the woman persist in the man. Thus one can find
men with feminine pelves, well-developed breasts, and high-
pitched voices, and women with flat breasts and small hips.
Among human beings there are all sorts of intermediate condi-
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? Sex and Character 105
Hons, varieties of sexual transitional forms between male and
female.
We may suppose the existence of an ideal man, M, and of an
ideal woman, W, as sexual types. Males and females are like
two substances combined in different proportions, but with
neither element ever wholly missing. All human beings are
more or less hermaphroditic, physically and mentally. A person
may be f M + \ W; another may be f W + ? M, and so on.
Yet Weininger is first concerned not with studying these spe-
cific cases, but only with determining the mind of the absolute
woman and the absolute man, the 100 percent woman and the
100 percent man. His subject, therefore, is not the living, con-
crete woman or man, but their types, considered platonically.
Sexuality is not limited to the genital organs and glands; it
extends to other parts of the body. But where are the borders?
In other words, where does sex display itself and where is it ab-
sent? Weininger mentions the theory, first suggested by the
Danish zoologist, Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup, that j
sexual properties are present in every part of the body. 1 Wein-
inger finds similarly that all parts of a woman, although in dif- it*-^
ferent degrees in the various zones, are sexually excitable.
He then passes on to the formal, hypothetical concept, which
to him seems almost factually certain: Each cell in the body is
sexually charged. 2 According to this principle governing sexual
transitional forms, Weininger believes that the sexual charac-
teristics may appear in different degrees. Empirical facts seem,
indeed, to prove that this principle of sexual transition between
man and woman may be extended to all the cells of the body.
At present, he said, it is impossible to say in which part of the
cell the masculinity or femininity is located.
The distribution of sexual characteristics affords an impor-
tant proof of the appearance of sexuality. Such characteristics
1 Untersuchungen ilber das Vorkommen des Hermaphroditismus in der Natur
(Greifswald, 1846), p. 9.
2 Mobius claimed in Geschlecht und Unbescheidenheit (Halle an der Saale,
1907), p. 10, that he had said (in "Uber das Somageschlecht," in Umschau,
January, 1903) that "each cell is sexually marked. "
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? 1o6
Sex and Character
(at least in the animal kingdom) may be arranged according
to the strength of their exciting influence on the opposite sex.
Weininger describes the male and female genital glands as pri-
mary sexual characteristics. The secondary sexual characteris-
tics are those which appear at puberty and which cannot be
developed except under the influence of the internal secretions
of the genital glands. Examples of these are the beard in men,
mammary glands in women, the type of voice, and the like.
Tertiary sexual characteristics comprise certain inherited traits
such as great muscular strength or marked mental obstinacy.
Quaternary sexual characteristics are acquired habits such as
men's drinking and smoking, women's domestic duties.
The degree of development of the secondary characteristics
has been regarded as the effect upon the organism of the in-
ternal secretions of the genital glands. These are the organs in
which the sex of the individual is most obvious, and, moreover,
the characteristic properties of the species, the race, and the
family to which the organism belongs are marked in the genital
cells.
If the genital glands of a man are removed, the male charac-
teristics disappear or become weakened and the feminine char-
acteristics appear more strongly. Every cell contains a certain
percentage of male plasm (arrhenoplasm) and a certain per-
centage of female plasm (thelyplasm). This seems to be proved
by the fact that in certain hermaphroditic animals male and
female sexual characters coexist, but the two do not function
at the same period. Each such individual exercises first the func-
tions of a male, afterwards those of the female (protandry). In
human beings, also, that is, in mature men, ma. y be found like
phenomena known to the study of sexual pathology.
In all forms of sexually differentiated life there is attraction
between males and females, between man and woman, the ob-
ject of which is procreation. Feminine men love masculine
women and vice versa. The fact that maleness and femaleness
are distributed in the living world in every possible proportion
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? Sex and Character 107
leads Weininger to the formulation of what he believed to be
an almost unknown law, "the law of sexual attraction," which
had been anticipated only by Schopenhauer. Sexual attraction
may be compared with gravitation. When exceptions to this
rule appear, there is nearly always evidence that some special
influence has worked to prevent the direct action of the special
taste. Weininger finds proof of his law of sexual attraction in
the common saying "waiting for Mr. Right" and in such state-
ments as "John and Mary are quite unsuitable for each other. "
Accordingly, every man or woman possesses certain individual
peculiarities which qualify or disqualify him or her for marriage
with any particular member of the opposite sex; this man can-
not be substituted for that, or this woman for another without
sexual affinity. Only one law does he consider. That one runs as
follows: For true sexual union it is necessary that there come
together a complete male (M) and a complete female (W),
even though in different cases M and W may be distributed
between the two individuals in different proportions. Thus,
IM + ^ W has a special affinity to } M + f W.
In this matter
the so-called aesthetic factor, the stimulus of beauty, is entirely
ignored.
Weininger finds confirmation of his law in the vegetable
kingdom, in the phenomenon of heterostylism. Where hetero-
stylism occurs, the greatest variety of sexual difference produces
the best plants.
In several insects the same conditions may be observed.
Among animals as well as among vegetables fertilization has
the best results when it occurs between parents with maximum
affinity.
The phenomena of sexual attraction are generally recognized.
Quite young men, say under twenty, are attracted by much
older women, say those of thirty-five or thereabouts, while men
of thirty-five and more are attracted by women much younger
than themselves. And quite young girls generally prefer much
older men to younger ones. These manifestations are more pro-
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? 1o8
Sex and Character
found than is usually surmised. The union of male and female
organisms is no mere matter of chance but is guided by a defi-
nite law.
In this connection Weininger refers to the experiments of
Wilhelm Pfeffer, which showed that the male cells of many
cryptograms are naturally attracted not merely by the female
cells but also by substances with which they come in contact
under natural conditions or which have been introduced ex-
perimentally. Pfeffer called these movements chemotactic and
used the word chemotropism to describe the attraction. Wei-
ninger takes up the idea. In certain animals the male with his
sense organs perceives the female at a distance, and Weininger
thinks this attraction exercised by females analogous in certain
respects to chemotropism. Chemotropism also seems to him
the explanation of the restless and persistent energy with which
the mammalian spermatozoa seek the entrance to the uterus.
In spite of all mechanical hindrances the spermatozoon makes
for the egg cell with almost incredible certainty. Many fish make
prodigious journeys to breed, e. g. , salmon travel for months
from the open sea to the sources of the Rhine in order to spawn.
According to Weininger the law of sexual attraction shows
that, because of the gradations of sexuality, there always may
be found pairs of beings with the two members almost perfectly
adapted to one another. From this standpoint, according to
Weininger, marriage has its justification, and "free love" is to
be condemned. The healthiest offspring will result from unions
in which there is the maximum of sexual suitability.
The law of sexual attraction also explains sexual inclination
among members of the same sex. There is no such thing as gen-
uine psychosexual hermaphroditism. The men who are sexually
attracted by other men have outward marks of effeminacy, just
as women who are attracted to those of their own sex exhibit
male characters. In all cases of sexual inversion (inclination
toward one's own sex) there is invariably an anatomical approx-
imation to the opposite sex.
Sexual perversion is not a habit acquired by the individual
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? Sex and Character log
during the course of his life. Weininger points to many writers
(Kraepelin, for example) who believed that such abnormality
is induced by example. Weininger inquires, Who was the first
seducer? Did the god Hermaphroditos teach him? Just as a
normal man discovers for himself what a woman is, so also in
the case of a sexual pervert the attraction exercised on him by a
person of his own sex is a normal product of his development r
from birth. There is little reason to say that sexual inversion is ?
acquired, and there is just as little cause to regard it as inherited <
from parents or grandparents. Let those who regard sexual in-
version as pathological remember that there are to be found
various transitional stages from the most masculine to the most
effeminate male and so on through many gradations to the
feminine virgin.
No inverts are completely inverted sexually. In all of them
there is from the beginning an inclination to both sexes; they
are, in fact, bisexual. Weininger believes that what he is intro-
ducing is the view that homosexuality cannot be regarded as an
atavism or as due to incomplete differentiation of sex. Homo-
sexuality is merely the sexual condition of the intermediate sex- \
ual forms. That the rudiments of homosexuality, in however '
weak a form, exist in every human being is proved by the fact
that the tendency may be observed in adolescence, when there
is still a great deal of undifferentiated sexuality before the in-
ternal secretions have exerted their stimulating force. In this
connection Weininger points to the strong sexual aspect of
youthful friendship and to homosexuality among animals. Per-
verted sexual attraction is no exception to the law of sexual at-
traction but is merely a special example of it. To fulfill the work-
ing of the law an individual who is half-man and half-woman
requires as sexual complement a being similarly equipped with
a share of both sexes. This need, Weininger finds, is the reason
why homosexuals associate only with persons of similar char-
acter and rarely admit to intimacy those who are normal. The
sexual attraction is mutual, and this explains why one homo-
sexual so readily recognizes the abnormality of another.
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? 110
Sex and Character
The problem of sexual attraction carried Weininger into the
sphere of physiology, as he undertook the problems of the sci-
ence of character. Matter and mind correspond, and it is easy to
imagine the existence of a female mental type and a male men-
tal type. We cannot say that the character of a particular indi-
vidual is male or female. Instead, we must ask, How many parts
male and how many parts female are there in this person? When
that question is answered, we should be better able to describe
the individual definitely and arrive at a foundation for scien-
tific study of the problem of characterology (the science of
character). This discovery should also influence teaching meth-
ods.
Every human being oscillates between the maleness and the
femaleness of his constitution. These sexual oscillations are
regular or irregular, like the variations in the magnetism of the
earth. The regular forms are sometimes minute; for instance,
many men feel more masculine at night. The irregular oscilla-
tions probably depend chiefly upon the environment, as, for
instance, on the sexuality of the surrounding people. In short,
bisexuality cannot be properly observed in a single moment but
must be studied through successive periods of time.
From this point forward, theoretical analysis of the M con-
tent and the W content in the individual becomes one of
Weininger's main objectives, and he chooses the difficult
method, namely, synthetic creation of abstract "sexual types,"
the ideal mind of man and the ideal mind of woman.
Weininger argues that the cooperative functioning of the male
and female principles must be the basis of any rational study
of character. The science of character is related to psychology
in much the same way that anatomy is related to physiology.
The principle of sexually intermediate forms--and, still more
forcefully, the parallel between characterology and morphol-
ogy in their widest application--makes him look forward to a
time when physiognomy would take its honorable place among
the sciences. The problem of physiognomy is, for Weininger,
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? Sex and Character
111
the problem of the relation between the static mental forces
and the static body forces.
The reason, he says, why such sciences as physiognomy and
characterology have not yet been properly recognized lies in
the difficulty of investigation. This difficulty might be avoided,
if, instead of inquiring why a person prefers cats to dogs, one
asked instead, In what respects do lovers of cats and lovers of
dogs differ? The method of seeking the related differences
where one difference has been detected would, Weininger be-
lieves, prove extremely useful not only to pure morphology
and to the science of character but ultimately also to physiog-
nomy.
The chapter called "Emancipated Women" offers a prelim-
inary conclusion to Weininger's investigation. He maintains
that a woman's demand for emancipation and her qualifica-
tion for it are in direct proportion to the amount of maleness '
in her. All prominent women, from Sappho to George Eliot,
who have striven for real emancipation--and their efforts were
justifiable--always have revealed some of the anatomical char- |
acters of the male. Many of them were sexual perverts. Con-
cerning this maleness in women, which, by the way, he de-
scribed as woman's great endowment, we may say that it
causes them to be homosexually or bisexually inclined (George
Sand's affair with Alfred de Musset, for example). Only the
male element in emancipated women craves emancipation. 1
There is, then, Weininger believes, a stronger reason than has
been generally supposed for the familiar assumption of male
pseudonyms by women writers; using men's names is one |
mode of giving expression to the inherent maleness they feel.
As a further example of this aping of men, George Sand's
preference for men's clothing may be mentioned.
If it is true that the desire for freedom and equality with
man occurs only in masculine women, it follows by inductive
reasoning that the female principle is not conscious of any v
need for emancipation. Weininger claims that the greatest,
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? 112
Sex and Character
the one enemy of the emancipation of woman is woman her-
self. It is left to the second part of his book to prove that point.
The second and principal part is called "The Sexual Types. "
We may briefly examine its main outlines.
Before considering the main difference between the sexes
as to psychological content, Weininger makes a few psycho-
logical soundings and formulates a few conceptions. He points
out that in studying perception it is necessary to make a dis-
tinction rarely made by psychologists; the original vague per-
ception must be distinguished from the later clarified version.
All clear perceptions and all distinct ideas must, before they
can be put into words, pass through a stage of indistinctness.
So also before an association is formed there is a sort of vague,
generalized expectation of association. To Richard Avenarius's
separation of all psychical phenomena into elements and char-
acters Weininger added a new concept. There is a stage of
mental activity not included in Avenarius's classification, a
stage that precedes those he tested. At first all elements merge,
more or less clouded. The whole process of clarification may
be compared to the experience of seeing something at a dis-
tance and then recognizing it as it comes nearer. The first
moment of indistinctness is important. Just as the process of
"anticipation" takes place before a thought is clarified in the
mind of an individual, so does it occur in history. Definite
scientific concepts are preceded by anticipations. There were
among ancient Greek and later thinkers vague anticipations
of Darwin's theory. Many earlier men foreshadowed the con-
clusions of modern science, and a like development may be
found in every phase of art, in painting as well as in music.
The whole history of thought is a continuous clarification, a
more and more accurate description or recognition of details.
The process of clarification is important, and Weininger in-
troduces a special name for the psychological data at the ear-
liest stage, before clarification has begun. He calls the vague
perception the henid. It is an abstract conception and may
not occur in the absolute form; the very idea of a henid for-
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? Sex and Character
^3
bids its exact description. It is merely a something. Later,
identification may come with the complete articulation of
the contents of the henid. The henid is not the whole of this
detailed content and is distinguished from the completed per-
ception by a lower grade of consciousness--so to speak, by an
absence of relief, by a blending of the die and the impression,
by the lack of a central point in the field of vision. Weininger
claims that henids are as vital as elements and characters. Each
henid is individual and can be distinguished from all others.
Probably the mental experiences of early childhood (certainly
the first fourteen months) are all henids, though perhaps not
in the strictest sense, for throughout childhood data never go
far beyond the henid stage. In adults there is always a certain
process of development going on. According to Weininger,
the henid is the form of perception known to the lower types
of organism. In mankind development from the henid to the
completely differentiated form of perception and idea is pos-
sible.
Weininger thinks that the theory of henids can be applied
in investigating the psychology of the sexes. His question is,
What is the distinction between male and female in the
process of clarification?
Male and female must be considered only as types. In the
case of human beings it appears to be psychologically true that
an individual, at least at a stated moment, is part man and
part woman. Do we get a clear conception of an individual if
we can determine the exact point he occupies on the line be-
tween two extremes? We are here concerned with the problem
of individual existence. Characterology should meet that prob-
lem, should do more than indicate the motor and sensory
reactions of the individual. It should not sink to the low level
of the modern experimental psychologists, who do little more
than collect statistics of physical experiments. Weininger
thinks it lamentable testimony to the insufficiency of the
psychology of his time that distinguished men of science,
though discontent with their own studies of perception and
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? Sex and Character
association, have nevertheless surrendered to the arts the ex-
planation of such fundamental phenomena as heroism and
sacrifice, madness and crime.
No other science will, says Weininger, become shallow so
quickly as psychology if it deserts philosophy, for without phi-
losophy it becomes impotent. The modern empirical psychol-
ogists begin their research into development of character by
investigating touch and the other common sensations. Yet an
analysis of sensation is no more than part of the physiology of
sense; any attempt to relate it to the real problems of psychol-
ogy must fail. It is the misfortune of the reigning psychology
that it has been so deeply influenced by the physicists Fechner
and Helmholtz. True, the two most intelligent empirical psy-
chologists of recent times, William James and Richard Ave-
narius, have realized almost instinctively that psychology can-
not rest upon observation of the sensations of the skin and
muscles; yet the prevailing school of modern psychology does
depend solely upon the study of sensations.
Dilthey did not stress enough his argument that existing
psychology does not deal with the large problems that are
eminently psychological in kind--murder, friendship, loneli-
ness, and so forth. If any advance is to be made, there must be
a really psychological psychology, and the first battlecry must
be, "Away with the study of sensations! "
Characterology assumes that there is a permanent some-
thing that continues to exist despite fleeting changes. To un-
derstand this permanent existence, manifest at every moment
of psychological life, is the aim of characterology.
The character is not, however, seated behind the thoughts
and feelings of the individual; rather it reveals itself in every
thought and every feeling. Just as each cell bears within it all
the characteristics of the whole individual, so each psychical
manifestation involves not merely a few characteristic traits of
a man but his whole being, with one quality prominent at one
moment, another quality at another. Accepting this truth will
make possible for the first time a complete and real psychol-
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? Sex and Character 115
ogy. Then we will no longer fear that it may share the fate of
its sister sciences and remain a trivial subject, like physiognomy,
or a future art, like graphology.
What is the basic difference between M and W? We need
not, according to Weininger, hope that any woman will help
to supply the answer by giving us information on the nature
of woman, for no female psychologist ever existed. The abso-
lute woman cannot attain to objectivity either anatomically
or physically, because she is only sexual. Moreover her sensa-
tions are vague and undifferentiated. Only men have written
sound psychology, and they achieve understanding of woman
through the female element in themselves.
The statement that men have stronger sexual impulses than
women is false. So is the opposite assertion, that women have
stronger sexual impulses than men. The strength of the sexual
drive does not depend upon the proportion of masculinity or
femininity in an individual. Women are, however, sexually
more excitable (physiologically) than men. In a woman easy
sexual excitement may appear in the form of a desire for sexual
stimulation or in an irritable shyness when touched. She is un-
conscious of her own nature and is therefore restless and
readily stirred.
This excitement yields, according to Weininger, the su-
preme moments of a woman's life. Woman is devoted wholly
to sexual matters, that is to say, to the spheres of sexual inter-
course, begetting, reproduction.
is just this: there can be no more question of 'I will' but only of 'I must'; you
have helped me across a terrifying precipice, and I am grateful and will always
be grateful to you for it" (Halvdan Koht, "Breve fra Henrik Ibsen" in Samtiden,
1908, p. 91). See also Werner Moring, Ibsen und Kierkegaard, Palaestra 160
(Leipzig, 1928), pp. 54, 55, 90.
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Edge of Fear
curred at one time or another in his life and that this agent has
worked to cause further reactions. Weininger's original per-
sonality during the spring and summer of 1902 went through a
change which was not only permanent but progressive. The im-
portant point is that once the change in the structure of his
personality make-up took place it did not disappear, but re-
mained until a new change took place, according to the pattern
characteristic of schizophrenic cases.
The basic conflict was the psychological expression of deep-
seated difficulties in Weininger. Through the fear he revealed
in this period we can see the basic traits in his personality: his
narcissistic self-protection and self-devoted defense, neurotic in
type. The importance he attributed to this fear must be taken
as a schizophrenic symptom.
The moral struggle in Weininger, then, resulted in morbid
manifestations, which were at first short and violent, but later,
while maintaining their intensity, assumed longer duration, and
finally became constant. This struggle called forth feelings of
abasement, shame, and unworthiness, accompanied by a strong
sense of guilt. The morbid reactions he displayed were acute
motor discharges, sometimes taking the form of fear and anx-
ieties, and sometimes the form of a blind fury against himself,
which reached a temporary climax in his openly confessed sui-
cide plans.
Weininger's bellicose moral attitude developed further and
further in this period until it finally took the form of an asocial
ethic. With the development of social asceticism, which he later
professed, this ethic became self-denying and annihilating. In
his struggle the feeling of guilt was the starting point of the
crisis, the overcoming of that feeling was the content. It in-
volved the contest between his mental extremes. 7
7 The moral hypertrophy--the opposite of moral insanity--which characterized
Weininger's attitude in respect both to his rigorous ethical demands and to the
requirements he stated as an individualist is probably suggestive of a certain
differential schizoid disposition. See Hermann Hoffmann, Vererbung und Seelen-
leben: Einfilhrung in die psychiatrische Konstitutions- und Vererbungslehre
(Berlin, 1922), p. 219.
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? Edge of Fear 101
The story of Weininger's reaction to the sound of a dog bark-
ing in the night shows that he must have suffered an hallucina-
tion. If we take it that he really did hear a dog bark, he must
have had a particularly vivid and impressionistic experience--a
pseudo hallucination--suited to the situation. Such an occur-
rence is quite possible. It often happens that a patient suffer-
ing from an acute psychosis has hallucinatory and pseudo-
hallucinatory deceptions in a confused mixture. And, quite
apart from the incident of that night, Weininger, according to
his own writings, had other experiences that can scarcely be
taken as anything but visionary hallucinations.
If we try to decide what specific type of hallucination he had,
we must note that Weininger seemed to hear imaginary voices
"commanding" him ("I am a born criminal, a born mur-
derer"), and the evidence indicates a definitely psychotic phe-
nomenon. We must remember that hallucinations as such are
not a sort of schizophrenia. Weininger doubted his real experi-
ences and his real thoughts rather than his misinterpretations
and was led to the idea that he must kill himself (imperative
hallucinations). His self-deceptions make it possible for us to
interpret his disturbance as hallucinatory disturbance. In addi-
tion, there appears to be a memory component; the displace-
ment of the events of a November night to July, 1902, resulted
apparently in loss of memory of the correct date. We may
therefore maintain that his disturbances were both hallucina-
tory and mnemonic. Though the incident of the barking dog
was well preserved in his memory, he related it incorrectly, be-
cause the reproduction of what he experienced at one definite
moment was disturbed. The incident was painful, and he sub-
merged it by distorting it. We may surmise that it was not his
memory itself that was disturbed, but rather his capacity for
associative reproduction of something remembered. Such mem-
ory distortion resulted from his narcissistic orientation.
The conclusion that something was lacking in his capacity for
recollection supports the theory that he suffered from a mental
derangement. Even if he seemed to be in contact with the out-
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? 102
Edge of Fear
side world, on this one point he was unable to understand real-
ity. The living connection between him and the outside world
was lost for a short while--his ego was separated from its sur-
roundings. The mere fact that his orientation seemed sound
(and accordingly his reactions seemed sound also) is no argu-
ment against the basic diagnosis. Quite commonly delirious
schizophrenic patients are well oriented in time and space.
As events developed that night, Gerber had to defend the
"murderer" because he did not believe in his guilt. After hours
of discussion, lasting almost until dawn, the only answer to all
of his efforts was: "You cannot persuade me! Let me alone! I
cannot go on living! " The words must be taken as an expression
of introspection, self-judgment, destructive self-criticism, and
devastating self-accusations--all symptoms within the frame-
work of the schizophrenic group. This kind of self-reproach and
self-criticism may often be seen also in the manic-depressive
psychosis. Yet if we remember his whole mood, his complete
mental situation with its practically fixed affective condition, it
is more reasonable to see his self-accusations as of schizophrenic
nature.
His suicide plan was based on a misconception. But this mis-
conception did not endure. By the morning of November 21 the
thought of killing himself had left him. He wanted to live.
When Otto Weininger made his decision, it may have been
because the idea of suicide had actually left him or it may have
been because he wanted to please his friend. The most likely
psychological explanation is that the time had arrived for a more
or less sudden remission of his acute case of disturbance. (As
Gerber said earlier, "The crisis was not yet over. ") His sudden
improvement was also indicated by the fact that he later be-
haved as if nothing had happened although he remembered
clearly what had gone on. When his mental condition improved
as it did, we have one more reason to believe his case was of
schizophrenic nature, since remissions of this sort can be seen
only in schizophrenic persons. The mental disturbance in him
was, however, of a passing kind; there was a slight and momen-
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? Edge of Fear 103
tary improvement before the real one, and the crisis passed only
after several hours. But he seems to have been open to argu-
ment. There was a serious contest between him and Gerber,
and Weininger was temporarily persuaded, not because Ger-
ber's words impressed him, but because his friend wept. He
would go on living. Thus the mental disturbance was over, and
everything seemed to be as before.
It appears that Otto Weininger was trying to pull himself to-
gether. His mental conflicts had brought him to the verge of a
split, but just as they seemed to get the upper hand Weininger
overcame them. His mental split was not too serious for him to
suppress it--at least apparently it was not. Yet one gains the
impression that Weininger barely escaped schizophrenic dis-
ease. It was on the point of overtaking him, it did overtake him,
then it relaxed and he escaped, either because its grip was not
firm enough upon him or because he was strong enough to com-
pose himself and put up enough mental resistance to throw off
the attack. Weininger was that night clear-minded enough to
be able to resist insanity consciously, shocking as the experience
may have been for him. His intelligence was keen enough for
him to realize what was happening, though he was spellbound
by his own experiences and found it hard to get away.
On that November night he came out victor over his own
mental split; at least in the following months he was able to pull
himself together. The experience, however, left its mark on his
mind. From that night emerged a new Weininger, different
from the old.
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? Sex and
Character
Q
ex and character was first published in 1903. It consisted
L-^/of two parts. Of these the first part was Weininger's thesis
for the doctor's degree, which was colored with scientific
thought. It is worth while to summarize what he says in it.
The two general concepts of male and female have come
down to us from primitive mankind. Yet is it really the case that
all women and men are marked off sharply from each other?
Nowhere in nature is there another such pronounced discon-
tinuity. There are transitional forms between the metals and
nonmetals, between animals and plants, and between mam-
mals and birds. From these analogies one might suppose that
there is in nature no sharp cleavage between masculine on the
one side and feminine on the other.
In the controversy about the nature of woman, appeal has
been made to the arbitration of anatomy, in the hflpe that some
anatomical line could be drawn between the inborn and ac-
quired properties of males and those of females. The answer of
the anatomists is clear enough. Absolute sexual distinctions be-
tween all men on the one side and all women on the other do
not exist. Sex cannot be determined with certainty from the
skeleton or from the muscles, tendons, skin, blood, or nerves.
The sex of a human embryo of less than five weeks cannot be
recognized. Sexual differentiation is never complete. All pe-
culiarities of the male sex may be present in the female in some
form, however weakly developed, and so also the sexual charac-
teristics of the woman persist in the man. Thus one can find
men with feminine pelves, well-developed breasts, and high-
pitched voices, and women with flat breasts and small hips.
Among human beings there are all sorts of intermediate condi-
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? Sex and Character 105
Hons, varieties of sexual transitional forms between male and
female.
We may suppose the existence of an ideal man, M, and of an
ideal woman, W, as sexual types. Males and females are like
two substances combined in different proportions, but with
neither element ever wholly missing. All human beings are
more or less hermaphroditic, physically and mentally. A person
may be f M + \ W; another may be f W + ? M, and so on.
Yet Weininger is first concerned not with studying these spe-
cific cases, but only with determining the mind of the absolute
woman and the absolute man, the 100 percent woman and the
100 percent man. His subject, therefore, is not the living, con-
crete woman or man, but their types, considered platonically.
Sexuality is not limited to the genital organs and glands; it
extends to other parts of the body. But where are the borders?
In other words, where does sex display itself and where is it ab-
sent? Weininger mentions the theory, first suggested by the
Danish zoologist, Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup, that j
sexual properties are present in every part of the body. 1 Wein-
inger finds similarly that all parts of a woman, although in dif- it*-^
ferent degrees in the various zones, are sexually excitable.
He then passes on to the formal, hypothetical concept, which
to him seems almost factually certain: Each cell in the body is
sexually charged. 2 According to this principle governing sexual
transitional forms, Weininger believes that the sexual charac-
teristics may appear in different degrees. Empirical facts seem,
indeed, to prove that this principle of sexual transition between
man and woman may be extended to all the cells of the body.
At present, he said, it is impossible to say in which part of the
cell the masculinity or femininity is located.
The distribution of sexual characteristics affords an impor-
tant proof of the appearance of sexuality. Such characteristics
1 Untersuchungen ilber das Vorkommen des Hermaphroditismus in der Natur
(Greifswald, 1846), p. 9.
2 Mobius claimed in Geschlecht und Unbescheidenheit (Halle an der Saale,
1907), p. 10, that he had said (in "Uber das Somageschlecht," in Umschau,
January, 1903) that "each cell is sexually marked. "
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? 1o6
Sex and Character
(at least in the animal kingdom) may be arranged according
to the strength of their exciting influence on the opposite sex.
Weininger describes the male and female genital glands as pri-
mary sexual characteristics. The secondary sexual characteris-
tics are those which appear at puberty and which cannot be
developed except under the influence of the internal secretions
of the genital glands. Examples of these are the beard in men,
mammary glands in women, the type of voice, and the like.
Tertiary sexual characteristics comprise certain inherited traits
such as great muscular strength or marked mental obstinacy.
Quaternary sexual characteristics are acquired habits such as
men's drinking and smoking, women's domestic duties.
The degree of development of the secondary characteristics
has been regarded as the effect upon the organism of the in-
ternal secretions of the genital glands. These are the organs in
which the sex of the individual is most obvious, and, moreover,
the characteristic properties of the species, the race, and the
family to which the organism belongs are marked in the genital
cells.
If the genital glands of a man are removed, the male charac-
teristics disappear or become weakened and the feminine char-
acteristics appear more strongly. Every cell contains a certain
percentage of male plasm (arrhenoplasm) and a certain per-
centage of female plasm (thelyplasm). This seems to be proved
by the fact that in certain hermaphroditic animals male and
female sexual characters coexist, but the two do not function
at the same period. Each such individual exercises first the func-
tions of a male, afterwards those of the female (protandry). In
human beings, also, that is, in mature men, ma. y be found like
phenomena known to the study of sexual pathology.
In all forms of sexually differentiated life there is attraction
between males and females, between man and woman, the ob-
ject of which is procreation. Feminine men love masculine
women and vice versa. The fact that maleness and femaleness
are distributed in the living world in every possible proportion
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? Sex and Character 107
leads Weininger to the formulation of what he believed to be
an almost unknown law, "the law of sexual attraction," which
had been anticipated only by Schopenhauer. Sexual attraction
may be compared with gravitation. When exceptions to this
rule appear, there is nearly always evidence that some special
influence has worked to prevent the direct action of the special
taste. Weininger finds proof of his law of sexual attraction in
the common saying "waiting for Mr. Right" and in such state-
ments as "John and Mary are quite unsuitable for each other. "
Accordingly, every man or woman possesses certain individual
peculiarities which qualify or disqualify him or her for marriage
with any particular member of the opposite sex; this man can-
not be substituted for that, or this woman for another without
sexual affinity. Only one law does he consider. That one runs as
follows: For true sexual union it is necessary that there come
together a complete male (M) and a complete female (W),
even though in different cases M and W may be distributed
between the two individuals in different proportions. Thus,
IM + ^ W has a special affinity to } M + f W.
In this matter
the so-called aesthetic factor, the stimulus of beauty, is entirely
ignored.
Weininger finds confirmation of his law in the vegetable
kingdom, in the phenomenon of heterostylism. Where hetero-
stylism occurs, the greatest variety of sexual difference produces
the best plants.
In several insects the same conditions may be observed.
Among animals as well as among vegetables fertilization has
the best results when it occurs between parents with maximum
affinity.
The phenomena of sexual attraction are generally recognized.
Quite young men, say under twenty, are attracted by much
older women, say those of thirty-five or thereabouts, while men
of thirty-five and more are attracted by women much younger
than themselves. And quite young girls generally prefer much
older men to younger ones. These manifestations are more pro-
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? 1o8
Sex and Character
found than is usually surmised. The union of male and female
organisms is no mere matter of chance but is guided by a defi-
nite law.
In this connection Weininger refers to the experiments of
Wilhelm Pfeffer, which showed that the male cells of many
cryptograms are naturally attracted not merely by the female
cells but also by substances with which they come in contact
under natural conditions or which have been introduced ex-
perimentally. Pfeffer called these movements chemotactic and
used the word chemotropism to describe the attraction. Wei-
ninger takes up the idea. In certain animals the male with his
sense organs perceives the female at a distance, and Weininger
thinks this attraction exercised by females analogous in certain
respects to chemotropism. Chemotropism also seems to him
the explanation of the restless and persistent energy with which
the mammalian spermatozoa seek the entrance to the uterus.
In spite of all mechanical hindrances the spermatozoon makes
for the egg cell with almost incredible certainty. Many fish make
prodigious journeys to breed, e. g. , salmon travel for months
from the open sea to the sources of the Rhine in order to spawn.
According to Weininger the law of sexual attraction shows
that, because of the gradations of sexuality, there always may
be found pairs of beings with the two members almost perfectly
adapted to one another. From this standpoint, according to
Weininger, marriage has its justification, and "free love" is to
be condemned. The healthiest offspring will result from unions
in which there is the maximum of sexual suitability.
The law of sexual attraction also explains sexual inclination
among members of the same sex. There is no such thing as gen-
uine psychosexual hermaphroditism. The men who are sexually
attracted by other men have outward marks of effeminacy, just
as women who are attracted to those of their own sex exhibit
male characters. In all cases of sexual inversion (inclination
toward one's own sex) there is invariably an anatomical approx-
imation to the opposite sex.
Sexual perversion is not a habit acquired by the individual
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? Sex and Character log
during the course of his life. Weininger points to many writers
(Kraepelin, for example) who believed that such abnormality
is induced by example. Weininger inquires, Who was the first
seducer? Did the god Hermaphroditos teach him? Just as a
normal man discovers for himself what a woman is, so also in
the case of a sexual pervert the attraction exercised on him by a
person of his own sex is a normal product of his development r
from birth. There is little reason to say that sexual inversion is ?
acquired, and there is just as little cause to regard it as inherited <
from parents or grandparents. Let those who regard sexual in-
version as pathological remember that there are to be found
various transitional stages from the most masculine to the most
effeminate male and so on through many gradations to the
feminine virgin.
No inverts are completely inverted sexually. In all of them
there is from the beginning an inclination to both sexes; they
are, in fact, bisexual. Weininger believes that what he is intro-
ducing is the view that homosexuality cannot be regarded as an
atavism or as due to incomplete differentiation of sex. Homo-
sexuality is merely the sexual condition of the intermediate sex- \
ual forms. That the rudiments of homosexuality, in however '
weak a form, exist in every human being is proved by the fact
that the tendency may be observed in adolescence, when there
is still a great deal of undifferentiated sexuality before the in-
ternal secretions have exerted their stimulating force. In this
connection Weininger points to the strong sexual aspect of
youthful friendship and to homosexuality among animals. Per-
verted sexual attraction is no exception to the law of sexual at-
traction but is merely a special example of it. To fulfill the work-
ing of the law an individual who is half-man and half-woman
requires as sexual complement a being similarly equipped with
a share of both sexes. This need, Weininger finds, is the reason
why homosexuals associate only with persons of similar char-
acter and rarely admit to intimacy those who are normal. The
sexual attraction is mutual, and this explains why one homo-
sexual so readily recognizes the abnormality of another.
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? 110
Sex and Character
The problem of sexual attraction carried Weininger into the
sphere of physiology, as he undertook the problems of the sci-
ence of character. Matter and mind correspond, and it is easy to
imagine the existence of a female mental type and a male men-
tal type. We cannot say that the character of a particular indi-
vidual is male or female. Instead, we must ask, How many parts
male and how many parts female are there in this person? When
that question is answered, we should be better able to describe
the individual definitely and arrive at a foundation for scien-
tific study of the problem of characterology (the science of
character). This discovery should also influence teaching meth-
ods.
Every human being oscillates between the maleness and the
femaleness of his constitution. These sexual oscillations are
regular or irregular, like the variations in the magnetism of the
earth. The regular forms are sometimes minute; for instance,
many men feel more masculine at night. The irregular oscilla-
tions probably depend chiefly upon the environment, as, for
instance, on the sexuality of the surrounding people. In short,
bisexuality cannot be properly observed in a single moment but
must be studied through successive periods of time.
From this point forward, theoretical analysis of the M con-
tent and the W content in the individual becomes one of
Weininger's main objectives, and he chooses the difficult
method, namely, synthetic creation of abstract "sexual types,"
the ideal mind of man and the ideal mind of woman.
Weininger argues that the cooperative functioning of the male
and female principles must be the basis of any rational study
of character. The science of character is related to psychology
in much the same way that anatomy is related to physiology.
The principle of sexually intermediate forms--and, still more
forcefully, the parallel between characterology and morphol-
ogy in their widest application--makes him look forward to a
time when physiognomy would take its honorable place among
the sciences. The problem of physiognomy is, for Weininger,
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? Sex and Character
111
the problem of the relation between the static mental forces
and the static body forces.
The reason, he says, why such sciences as physiognomy and
characterology have not yet been properly recognized lies in
the difficulty of investigation. This difficulty might be avoided,
if, instead of inquiring why a person prefers cats to dogs, one
asked instead, In what respects do lovers of cats and lovers of
dogs differ? The method of seeking the related differences
where one difference has been detected would, Weininger be-
lieves, prove extremely useful not only to pure morphology
and to the science of character but ultimately also to physiog-
nomy.
The chapter called "Emancipated Women" offers a prelim-
inary conclusion to Weininger's investigation. He maintains
that a woman's demand for emancipation and her qualifica-
tion for it are in direct proportion to the amount of maleness '
in her. All prominent women, from Sappho to George Eliot,
who have striven for real emancipation--and their efforts were
justifiable--always have revealed some of the anatomical char- |
acters of the male. Many of them were sexual perverts. Con-
cerning this maleness in women, which, by the way, he de-
scribed as woman's great endowment, we may say that it
causes them to be homosexually or bisexually inclined (George
Sand's affair with Alfred de Musset, for example). Only the
male element in emancipated women craves emancipation. 1
There is, then, Weininger believes, a stronger reason than has
been generally supposed for the familiar assumption of male
pseudonyms by women writers; using men's names is one |
mode of giving expression to the inherent maleness they feel.
As a further example of this aping of men, George Sand's
preference for men's clothing may be mentioned.
If it is true that the desire for freedom and equality with
man occurs only in masculine women, it follows by inductive
reasoning that the female principle is not conscious of any v
need for emancipation. Weininger claims that the greatest,
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? 112
Sex and Character
the one enemy of the emancipation of woman is woman her-
self. It is left to the second part of his book to prove that point.
The second and principal part is called "The Sexual Types. "
We may briefly examine its main outlines.
Before considering the main difference between the sexes
as to psychological content, Weininger makes a few psycho-
logical soundings and formulates a few conceptions. He points
out that in studying perception it is necessary to make a dis-
tinction rarely made by psychologists; the original vague per-
ception must be distinguished from the later clarified version.
All clear perceptions and all distinct ideas must, before they
can be put into words, pass through a stage of indistinctness.
So also before an association is formed there is a sort of vague,
generalized expectation of association. To Richard Avenarius's
separation of all psychical phenomena into elements and char-
acters Weininger added a new concept. There is a stage of
mental activity not included in Avenarius's classification, a
stage that precedes those he tested. At first all elements merge,
more or less clouded. The whole process of clarification may
be compared to the experience of seeing something at a dis-
tance and then recognizing it as it comes nearer. The first
moment of indistinctness is important. Just as the process of
"anticipation" takes place before a thought is clarified in the
mind of an individual, so does it occur in history. Definite
scientific concepts are preceded by anticipations. There were
among ancient Greek and later thinkers vague anticipations
of Darwin's theory. Many earlier men foreshadowed the con-
clusions of modern science, and a like development may be
found in every phase of art, in painting as well as in music.
The whole history of thought is a continuous clarification, a
more and more accurate description or recognition of details.
The process of clarification is important, and Weininger in-
troduces a special name for the psychological data at the ear-
liest stage, before clarification has begun. He calls the vague
perception the henid. It is an abstract conception and may
not occur in the absolute form; the very idea of a henid for-
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? Sex and Character
^3
bids its exact description. It is merely a something. Later,
identification may come with the complete articulation of
the contents of the henid. The henid is not the whole of this
detailed content and is distinguished from the completed per-
ception by a lower grade of consciousness--so to speak, by an
absence of relief, by a blending of the die and the impression,
by the lack of a central point in the field of vision. Weininger
claims that henids are as vital as elements and characters. Each
henid is individual and can be distinguished from all others.
Probably the mental experiences of early childhood (certainly
the first fourteen months) are all henids, though perhaps not
in the strictest sense, for throughout childhood data never go
far beyond the henid stage. In adults there is always a certain
process of development going on. According to Weininger,
the henid is the form of perception known to the lower types
of organism. In mankind development from the henid to the
completely differentiated form of perception and idea is pos-
sible.
Weininger thinks that the theory of henids can be applied
in investigating the psychology of the sexes. His question is,
What is the distinction between male and female in the
process of clarification?
Male and female must be considered only as types. In the
case of human beings it appears to be psychologically true that
an individual, at least at a stated moment, is part man and
part woman. Do we get a clear conception of an individual if
we can determine the exact point he occupies on the line be-
tween two extremes? We are here concerned with the problem
of individual existence. Characterology should meet that prob-
lem, should do more than indicate the motor and sensory
reactions of the individual. It should not sink to the low level
of the modern experimental psychologists, who do little more
than collect statistics of physical experiments. Weininger
thinks it lamentable testimony to the insufficiency of the
psychology of his time that distinguished men of science,
though discontent with their own studies of perception and
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? Sex and Character
association, have nevertheless surrendered to the arts the ex-
planation of such fundamental phenomena as heroism and
sacrifice, madness and crime.
No other science will, says Weininger, become shallow so
quickly as psychology if it deserts philosophy, for without phi-
losophy it becomes impotent. The modern empirical psychol-
ogists begin their research into development of character by
investigating touch and the other common sensations. Yet an
analysis of sensation is no more than part of the physiology of
sense; any attempt to relate it to the real problems of psychol-
ogy must fail. It is the misfortune of the reigning psychology
that it has been so deeply influenced by the physicists Fechner
and Helmholtz. True, the two most intelligent empirical psy-
chologists of recent times, William James and Richard Ave-
narius, have realized almost instinctively that psychology can-
not rest upon observation of the sensations of the skin and
muscles; yet the prevailing school of modern psychology does
depend solely upon the study of sensations.
Dilthey did not stress enough his argument that existing
psychology does not deal with the large problems that are
eminently psychological in kind--murder, friendship, loneli-
ness, and so forth. If any advance is to be made, there must be
a really psychological psychology, and the first battlecry must
be, "Away with the study of sensations! "
Characterology assumes that there is a permanent some-
thing that continues to exist despite fleeting changes. To un-
derstand this permanent existence, manifest at every moment
of psychological life, is the aim of characterology.
The character is not, however, seated behind the thoughts
and feelings of the individual; rather it reveals itself in every
thought and every feeling. Just as each cell bears within it all
the characteristics of the whole individual, so each psychical
manifestation involves not merely a few characteristic traits of
a man but his whole being, with one quality prominent at one
moment, another quality at another. Accepting this truth will
make possible for the first time a complete and real psychol-
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? Sex and Character 115
ogy. Then we will no longer fear that it may share the fate of
its sister sciences and remain a trivial subject, like physiognomy,
or a future art, like graphology.
What is the basic difference between M and W? We need
not, according to Weininger, hope that any woman will help
to supply the answer by giving us information on the nature
of woman, for no female psychologist ever existed. The abso-
lute woman cannot attain to objectivity either anatomically
or physically, because she is only sexual. Moreover her sensa-
tions are vague and undifferentiated. Only men have written
sound psychology, and they achieve understanding of woman
through the female element in themselves.
The statement that men have stronger sexual impulses than
women is false. So is the opposite assertion, that women have
stronger sexual impulses than men. The strength of the sexual
drive does not depend upon the proportion of masculinity or
femininity in an individual. Women are, however, sexually
more excitable (physiologically) than men. In a woman easy
sexual excitement may appear in the form of a desire for sexual
stimulation or in an irritable shyness when touched. She is un-
conscious of her own nature and is therefore restless and
readily stirred.
This excitement yields, according to Weininger, the su-
preme moments of a woman's life. Woman is devoted wholly
to sexual matters, that is to say, to the spheres of sexual inter-
course, begetting, reproduction.
