Wittgenstein Reads Weininger [Paperback]

David G. Stern (Editor), Béla Szabados (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0521532604 | ISBN-13: 978-0521532600

Condemned for his misogyny, self-hatred, anti-semitism and homophobia, as well as praised for his uncompromising and outspoken approach to gender and morality, Otto Weininger was one of the most controversial and widely read authors of fin-de-siècle Vienna. The purpose of this new collection of essays is to explore the various ways in which Wittgenstein absorbed and responded to Weininger's ideas. Written by an international team of experts on Wittgenstein and Weininger, the volume is especially timely in the light of recent translations of Weininger's work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This collection helps us to read Weininger with some understanding, and to see what Wittgenstein may have seen when reading Weininger" - James C. Klagge, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Book Description

Otto Weininger was one of the most controversial and widely read authors of fin-de-siècle Vienna. He was both condemned for his misogyny, self-hatred, anti-semitism and homophobia, as well as praised for his uncompromising and outspoken approach to gender and morality. The purpose of this new collection of essays is to explore the various ways in which Wittgenstein absorbed and responded to Weininger's ideas. Written by an international team of experts on Wittgenstein and Weininger, the volume is especially timely in the light of recent translations of Weininger's work.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521532604
• ISBN-13: 978-0521532600
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #885,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little gem for Germanophiles, but only a springboard, July 22, 2010

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Elliot B. Bougis "E.B. de Sales" (Taichung, Taiwan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wittgenstein Reads Weininger (Paperback)

While I enjoyed Mr. Solway's deliciously scathing review of _Wittgenstein Reads Weininger_ (WRW), I must stay my hand from a similar review and warmly endorse WRW. I majored in German in college, after four years of it in high school, so I consider German my "father tongue." I maintain an active interest in Germanic studies and enjoy reading anything that refreshes or deepens my grasp of the German language and Austro-Prusso-Germanic history. The fact is, there are very few books like this on the English-speaking market, and I feel a bit jilted that I only dimly knew of Weininger as a name I must have seen in a dozen footnotes over the years. If you want to get some tantalizing and rare insights into Wittgenstein's intellectual formation, this book is a must-read. Granted, a couple of the essays can start to feel repetitive towards the center of WRW, since, well, all the essays are dealing with the same topic! Nonetheless, a careful reading of WRW, especially the endnotes, will deliver numerous sparks of pondering for the Germanophilic thinker.

I think much of what Mr. Solway complains about (viz., WRW's lack of declarative substance) is based on the relative lack of textual data about Witt's opinion of Wein. Witt is notorious for his aphoristic, erratic manner of expression, so there is no denying the authors in WRW often have to weave a carpet out of what must feel like a few stalks of wheat. Yet, they are explicit about this precarious exegetical position, so it is interesting to see how the authors navigate the data in creative and honest ways. If Western philosophy is rightly considered a series of footnotes to Plato, I think much of modern philosophy could be construed as a series of dissertations on Wittgenstein's footnotes. Arguably, never was more written about less, since Witt's miniscule _Tractatus_ alone has generated a flood of scholarship--EVEN AFTER it has been conceded the positions in the _Tractatus_ are mostly defunct, even from Witt's own perspective. If this kind of asymmetrical exegesis irritates you, WRW will irritate you. (Cf. e.g. _Essays on Wittgenstein's *Tractatus*_ by [ed.] Copi and Beard for a similar instance of so much being written about so little textual data.) If Witt had said more, or said what he said less cryptically... ah, but then, he wouldn't have been Witt.

In any case, I found the essays about Weininger's all too easily caricatured typology and animal psychology in Witt and Wein the most interesting facets of WRW. Perhaps the best feature of WRW is the surprisingly rich bibliography that appends each essay. This allows the frustrated reader à la Mr. Solway, to dig deeper on his own.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rami Ojares, March 16, 2010

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Rami Ojares (Finland, Helsinki) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wittgenstein Reads Weininger (Hardcover)

Kevin B. Solway's text was the most hilarious book review I have ever read!
Fantastic!

6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Au Contraire..., August 10, 2005

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James Klagge "jck1954" (Blacksburg, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wittgenstein Reads Weininger (Paperback)

Though Mr. Solway has obviously read this book carefully, his insistence that the contributors have "nothing" to say clearly indicates that he has an unusual perspective on philosophy. If issues of philosophy and philosophical influence interest you, then you should not be deterred. The contributors are first-rate, and their insights are worth considering.