Customer Reviews

A Translation of Weininger's Über Die Letzten Dinge, 1904-1907, On Last Things (Studies in German Language and Literature, V. 28)

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The beauty of this collection of essays is its rare combination of depth and diversity, profoundly addressing many topics including (as a subset only) time, culture, science, criminality, sado-masochism, animal psychology, egotism, femininity and seekers and priests.

Containing a psychoanalysis of the criminal mind even Freud could not have written, it delves into equally fruitful analyses of the insane, the artist, scientist, egotist, psychologist and even those who mentally parallel animals (primarily the dog or horse types).

For the reader there is a perfect mix of aphorisms with long, intertwined essays combined with short fragments touching on major themes without excessive development. Weininger's ability to unite such diverse themes and concepts into a single coherent Weltanschauung (not without its very true-to-life paradoxes) is sheer genius.

A master debunker of myths and popular conceptions, Weininger is both ruthless and compassionate, scathingly critical and worshipfully reverential, certain beyond all doubt and open to all possibilities.

A must for the free thinker. Excellently translated.