Sex & Character: Authorised Translation from the Sixth German EditionWeininger, Otto
Philosophy
Sex & Character: Authorised Translation from the Sixth German Edition
Weininger, Otto
Character; Sex; Sex (Psychology); Sexual ethics
[12] It would be a simple matter to introduce at this point a list of
the works of the most famous women, and show by a few examples how
little they deserve the title of genius. But it would be a wearisome
task, and any one who would make use of such a list can easily procure
it for himself, so that I shall not do so.
The proof of the soullessness of woman is closely connected with much of
what was contained in the earlier chapters. The third chapter explained
that woman has her experiences in the form of henids, whilst those of
men are in an organised form, so that the consciousness of the female is
lower in grade than that of the male. Consciousness, however, is
psychologically a fundamental part of the theory of knowledge. From the
point of view of the theory of knowledge, consciousness and the
possession of a continuous ego, of a transcendental subjective soul, are
identical conceptions. Every ego exists only so far as it is
self-conscious, conscious of the contents of its own thoughts; all real
existence is conscious existence. I can now make an important addition
to the theory of henids. The organised contents of the thoughts of the
male are not merely those of the female articulated and formed, they are
not what was potential in the female becoming actual; from the very
first there is a qualitative difference. The psychical contents of the
male, even whilst they are still in the henid stage that they always try
to emerge from, are already partly conceptual, and it is probable that
even perceptions in the male have a direct tendency towards conceptions.
In the female, on the other hand, there is no trace of conception either
in recognition or in thinking.
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