Otto Weininger
Otto Weininger
===============
Full Name and Common Aliases
--------------------------------
Full name: Otto Weininger
Alias: None notable.
Birth and Death Dates
-------------------------
Born on October 26, 1880, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria).
Died on April 14, 1903, in Vienna, Austria.
Nationality and Profession(s)
---------------------------------
Austrian philosopher and writer.
Weininger's philosophical ideas were influential in the development of modern thought, particularly in the areas of psychology, philosophy, and sociology.
Early Life and Background
------------------------------
Otto Weininger was born into a Jewish family in Vienna. His father, Salomon Weininger, was an engineer, and his mother, Rosa Fuchs, was a pianist.
Weininger's early life was marked by intellectual curiosity and a passion for learning. He studied philosophy at the University of Vienna under the tutelage of Franz Brentano.
Major Accomplishments
-------------------------
- Philosophical Contributions: Weininger's work focused on the human condition, exploring themes such as the nature of the self, the role of sex in society, and the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind.
- Influence on Later Thinkers: His ideas influenced a wide range of thinkers, including Sigmund Freud, who referred to him as "the most remarkable young man that I have ever met."
Notable Works or Actions
------------------------------
"Sex and Character" (Geschlecht und Charakter): Published in 1903, this book is considered Weininger's magnum opus. In it, he explores the relationship between biology and culture, arguing that human behavior is shaped by a complex interplay of factors.
Weininger's Concept of the "Woman": In his work, Weininger posits that women are less intelligent and more emotional than men due to their biology. This idea has been widely criticized for its sexist undertones.
Impact and Legacy
-------------------------
- Impact on Psychology and Philosophy: Weininger's ideas about the unconscious mind and the role of sex in shaping human behavior influenced the development of psychoanalysis.
- Criticisms and Controversies: His work has also been subject to criticism, particularly for its sexist and misogynistic views.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
---------------------------------------------
Weininger's ideas continue to be relevant today due to their insights into human behavior and the complexities of the human condition. Despite controversy surrounding his views on women, his philosophical contributions remain an important part of modern thought.
Quotes by Otto Weininger
Otto Weininger's insights on:
There are men who are willing to marry a woman they do not care about merely because she is admired by other men. Such a relation exists between many men and their thoughts.
If it really were the case, as popular opinion has tried to establish, that the genius were separated from ordinary men by a thick wall through which no sound could penetrate, then all understanding of the efforts of genius would be denied to ordinary men, and their works would fail to make any impression on them. All hopes of progress depend on this being untrue. And it is untrue. The difference between men of genius and the others is quantitative not qualitative, of degree not of kind.
Among the notable things about fire is that it also requires oxygen to burn – exactly like its enemy, life. Thereby are life and flames so often compared.
The danger of insanity is always present in those who try to penetrate the discipline of logic and pure knowledge.
Logic and ethics are fundamentally the same, they are no more than duty to oneself.
Sending children away to get control of their anger perpetuates the feeling of 'badness" inside them...Chances are they were already feeling not very good about themselves before the outburst and the isolation just serves to confirm in their own minds that they were right.
Mankind occurs as male or female, as something or nothing. Woman has no share in ontological reality, no relation to the thing-in-itself, which, in the deepest interpretation, is the absolute, is God. Man in his highest form, the genius, has such a relation, and for him the absolute is either the conception of the highest worth of existence, in which case he is a philosopher; or it is the wonderful fairyland of dreams, the kingdom of absolute beauty, and then he is an artist.
The man of genius is he whose ego has acquired consciousness. He is enabled by it to distinguish the fact that others are different, to perceive the "ego" of other men, even when it is not pronounced enough for them to be conscious of it themselves. But it is only he who feels that every other man is also an ego, a monad, an individual centre of the universe, with specific manner of feeling and thinking and a distinct past, he alone is in a position to avoid making use of his neighbours as means to an end.