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
Let me begin with the analogies. It is notable that the Jews, even now
when at least a relative security of tenure is possible, prefer moveable
property, and, in spite of their acquisitiveness, have little real sense
of personal property, especially in its most characteristic form, landed
property. Property is indissolubly connected with the self, with
individuality. It is in harmony with the foregoing that the Jew is so
readily disposed to communism. Communism must be distinguished clearly
from socialism, the former being based on a community of goods, an
absence of individual property, the latter meaning, in the first place a
co-operation of individual with individual, of worker with worker, and a
recognition of human individuality in every one. Socialism is Aryan
(Owen, Carlyle, Ruskin, Fichte). Communism is Jewish (Marx). Modern
social democracy has moved far apart from the earlier socialism,
precisely because Jews have taken so large a share in developing it. In
spite of the associative element in it, the Marxian doctrine does not
lead in any way towards the State as a union of all the separate
individual aims, as the higher unit combining the purposes of the lower
units. Such a conception is as foreign to the Jew as it is to the woman.
For these reasons Zionism must remain an impracticable ideal,
notwithstanding the fashion in which it has brought together some of the
noblest qualities of the Jews. Zionism is the negation of Judaism, for
the conception of Judaism involves a world-wide distribution of the
Jews. Citizenship is an un-Jewish thing, and there has never been and
never will be a true Jewish State. The State involves the aggregation of
individual aims, the formation of and obedience to self-imposed laws;
and the symbol of the State, if nothing more, is its head chosen by free
election. The opposite conception is that of anarchy, with which
present-day communism is closely allied. The ideal State has never been
historically realised, but in every case there is at least a minimum of
this higher unit, this conception of an ideal power which distinguishes
the State from the mere collection of human beings in barracks.
Rousseau’s much-despised theory of the conscious co-operation of
individuals to form a State deserves more attention than it now
receives. Some ethical notion of free combination must always be
included.
The true conception of the State is foreign to the Jew, because he, like
the woman, is wanting in personality; his failure to grasp the idea of
true society is due to his lack of a free intelligible ego. Like women,
Jews tend to adhere together, but they do not associate as free
independent individuals mutually respecting each other’s individuality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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