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Sex and Character (book): Difference between revisions
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'''Sex and Character''' (German: ''Geschlecht und Charakter'', 1903) is a philosophical work written by [[Otto Weininger]]. | '''Sex and Character''' (German: ''Geschlecht und Charakter'', 1903) is a philosophical work written by [[Otto Weininger]]. | ||
The work takes a philosophical and psychological approach to the subject of gender relations, with the core idea of the work being the idea that there exists two Platonic essences, namely - the 'masculine (M)' and the 'feminine (W) ' - that are inherent in all individuals of both sexes to a greater or lesser degree. Though men | The work takes a philosophical and psychological approach to the subject of gender relations, with the core idea of the work being the idea that there exists two Platonic essences, namely - the 'masculine (M)' and the 'feminine (W) ' - that are inherent in all individuals of both sexes to a greater or lesser degree. Though overwhelmingly, men exhibit more of the masculine essence and women exhibit more of the feminine essence. | ||
In Weininger's view, the masculine essence is active and energetic, and the feminine essence is passive and exists chiefly to be acted upon by the masculine. This means that only those women who are inherently more masculine than other women (and therefore are capable of genius, to some extent) can be truly 'emancipated', Weininger argues, with the other 'typical' women being portrayed as fundamentally vacuous creatures that are solely concerned with the matters of reproduction and sexuality. In an attempt to prove his thesis, he draws upon the science of Biology, the (then incipient) science of Psychology, and the corpus of Western philosophy. | In Weininger's view, the masculine essence is active and energetic, and the feminine essence is passive and exists chiefly to be acted upon by the masculine. This means that only those women who are inherently more masculine than other women (and therefore are capable of genius, to some extent) can be truly 'emancipated', Weininger argues, with the other 'typical' women being portrayed as fundamentally vacuous creatures that are solely concerned with the matters of reproduction and sexuality. In an attempt to prove his thesis, he draws upon the science of Biology, the (then incipient) science of Psychology, and the corpus of Western philosophy. | ||