author
Otto Weininger
1880–1903
A brilliant and deeply controversial Viennese philosopher, Otto Weininger became famous for Sex and Character, a sweeping—and often disturbing—study of gender, ethics, genius, and identity. His early death at twenty-three helped turn the book into a lasting cultural sensation.
3 Audiobooks
Sex & Character Authorised Translation from the Sixth German Edition
by Otto Weininger
Geschlecht und Charakter: Eine prinzipielle Untersuchung
by Otto Weininger
Über die letzten Dinge
by Otto Weininger
About the author
Born in Vienna on April 3, 1880, Weininger studied philosophy and a wide range of scientific and psychological subjects at the University of Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1902. His only major work, Geschlecht und Charakter (Sex and Character), appeared in 1903 and explored masculinity, femininity, morality, religion, and genius through a highly speculative philosophical system.
The book drew intense attention for its misogynistic and antisemitic arguments, while also influencing later intellectual figures including Ludwig Wittgenstein and August Strindberg. Weininger died by suicide in Vienna on October 4, 1903, at the age of twenty-three; his work remained widely discussed after his death, both for its intellectual ambition and for its deeply troubling ideas.