Katia N’s Reviews > Hitler's Favorite Jew: The Enigma of Otto Weininger > Status Update
Katia N
is on page 39 of 191
‘In literature, the problem that Weininger addressed is precisely the one that Leo Tolstoy posed in The Kreutzer Sonata: how can there be moral relations between the sexes? It is scarcely a theme that we can recognize as a problem 100 years after the Jazz Age, which turned the tides in these matters. In Weininger’s view, only when men abstain from sexual relations with women are both truly human.’. (Gosh!)
— Feb 16, 2026 09:24AM
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Katia N
is on page 111 of 191
‘That She is incapable of abstraction from the particular to the general implies She cannot understand the concept of law in its speculative application in science or its moral employment in ethics. Thus Weininger insists that Woman cannot be evil or anti-moral, only a-moral. The great paradox of femininity for Weininger is that W’s lack of a real self determines that all of Her acts are selfish.’ Gosh again!
— Feb 17, 2026 05:21AM
Katia N
is on page 100 of 191
“Man, has the same psychical contents as woman but in a more articulated form; while she thinks more or less in henids (granular percepts) he thinks in clear, distinct concepts linked to definite feelings which can always be removed from their objects.” W writes. The consequences of this inability to think clearly follow fast and furious: the nihilistic nature of Woman follows from her incapacity to abstract
— Feb 17, 2026 04:38AM
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Jan-Maat
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Feb 16, 2026 10:41AM
Wasn't that the position of late stage Tolstoy too?
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Yes, that is what this says. But more interestingly (or alarmingly depending where one stands) it seems gaining some fraction now on line between certain predominantly male audiences. Also this guy (W) has apparently influenced a lot of people like Wittgenstein, G Stein and even Joyce. Though the last two did not seem to be affected by this particular idea:-)
(I happen to be reading into the history of sexology currently, which has repeatedly made me feel like we have made scarce progress to our fundamental cultural fallacies, so Weiniger's name drew my attention...) His ideas weren't new, or else they wouldn't have found as broad popularity at a moment were the bourgeois gender paradigm was seeming uncertain and needed something to lend it the unmovable authority of biological fact — for similar reason, it would endure now.I will point out that Gertrude Stein wasn't without her own masculinist problematic attitudes and behaviour; she would host her salons segregated with A.B. Tolkas relegated to entertaining the wives of her guests, for one. And she didn't seem to have any trouble with Picasso's misogyny; when their relations deteriorated, it was because he had a problem with her flirtations with fascism.
A jolly and uplifting genealogy of ideas
heptagrammaton wrote: "(I happen to be reading into the history of sexology currently, which has repeatedly made me feel like we have made scarce progress to our fundamental cultural fallacies, so Weiniger's name drew my..."Thank you very much heptagrammaton for this contribution and your perspective. I do not know much about sexology, so your comment is very valuable in helping to understand his phenomena. I've felt a need to know more about him more from the perspective of his influence on the thinkers who if not shaped seriously influenced the direction of literature and broader discourse in the 20th century and later. And his name pops up in this field as well too often for my liking.
I cannot agree more with you, in fact I am coming to a similar conclusion that in spite of the major breakthroughs in biology (including inheritance) in the last century the fundamental thinking and broader understanding of the issues of sex/gender at least in the popular conscience is still not very far from what it was at the beginning of the last century. Maybe it just reflects how slow a human brain adjusts to the new information, maybe it is the structures of society.
And you are absolutely right that his views did not come out of nowhere. Even this book (which is not ideal but only one I've found) takes about the prevailing duplicity of a moral in the contemporary society. The phenomena of the wider spread prostitution for example. But also about an attempt to 'rationalise' more broad sociology and sex/gender differences through some scientific methods that stinks of eugenics. Cesare Lambroso seems to be a big influence on W with his studies of women in prisons etc. Interestingly, as far as I can understand the author of this book, both W and people like Lambroso were considered progressive and advocate for social reforms incl women. That sounds quite a claim and I need to read up on it further.
Thank you for your note about Stein. I've gathered this attitude of hers from the other sources as well. I think she was obsessed with being genius and W has given her an idea that she might be the one if she is a masculine female (or something like that in his classifications of types). I have not quite get to this part of his ideas. But I could see how she would adopt it as a part of her identity. In terms of her and Picasso relationship, I definitely agree that she did not have problem with his misogyny. In terms of him having problems with her flirting with fascism is a bit less straightforward (as far as I understand it at the moment). I've read he was the guy to has contacted Bernard Fay to save her collection in Paris. But it is quite a separate story. I would totally agree with you that her views about other women were quite problematic.
Again thank you very much for your comment!
Jan-Maat wrote: "A jolly and uplifting genealogy of ideas"Indeed. And they seem not go away.
Katia wrote: "Jan-Maat wrote: "A jolly and uplifting genealogy of ideas"Indeed. And they seem not go away."
Intellectually we are all very good at recycling!
I wish it would be otherwise: ecologically- yes, intellectually - more of something new each time:-). But I suspect that you are right that is why we would be so easily replaced by the machines (I hope with certain exceptions at least:-)))
