CW 170 The Riddle of Humanity: Lecture 1 (Dornach, 29 July 1916) by Rudolf Steiner
Oct 6, 2026 · 42 min · 12 segments
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Oct 6, 2026 · 42 min · 12 segments
He wrote two books that attracted much attention.
It bore the title Concerning the Last Things, Über die letzten Dinge.
I am speaking about Otto Weininger, a man whom many saw as a true genius of his time.
When he wrote the fat book Sex and Character, it attracted a great deal of attention and the various judgments passed on the book differed greatly.
There were people who viewed it as a kind of gospel proclaimed by the archetypal spirit of the times.
They claimed that this book, title Sex and Character, touched, if somewhat one-sidedly and perhaps not entirely explicitly, on the deepest truths of the contemporary era.
There were also others, those for example who by profession were doctors to the insane, who maintained that the only serious libraries in which the two books, title Sex and Character and title Concerning the Last Things, belonged were the libraries of asylums for the insane.
They did not mean in the patient's library either, but rather in the doctor's library, so that the doctors could study the two books as typical examples of contemporary lunacy.
As you see, a greater divergence of opinion could not be imagined.
On the one hand, there was an almost prayerful reverence for a great work of genius.
On the other, this work was viewed as a product of lunacy.
And some of what is to be found in the book, title Sex and Character, is indeed curious.
But it could only have surprised those who had not concerned themselves intensively with certain thoughts that had been coming to the surface during the last few decades.
To begin with, Weininger said, not in precisely these words, for with so fat a book it is necessary to abbreviate, up to now the views of mankind have been the views of Philistines and pedants.
The Philistines and pedants have always believed that there are two kinds of human being in the world, men and women.
But only a true Philistine could believe that there are just men and women in the world.
To really understand the world, one must rise above the Philistine view that there are just men and women in the world.
For Weininger believes it is not true that there are only two sexual identities, masculine and feminine.
With great correctness and diplomacy, he calls the masculine and feminine characters respectively M and W.
But according to Weininger, there is no one in the world who is exclusively M or W.
And it would be unfortunate if there were someone who would have to be designated as entirely M or entirely W.
For, asks Weininger, what is a proper woman? A proper woman is not even a something, but is the negation of a something, is nothingness.
Now there are some individuals walking about who are not properly here in this world.
He wrote two books that attracted much attention.
It bore the title Concerning the Last Things, Über die letzten Dinge.
I am speaking about Otto Weininger, a man whom many saw as a true genius of his time.
When he wrote the fat book Sex and Character, it attracted a great deal of attention and the various judgments passed on the book differed greatly.
There were people who viewed it as a kind of gospel proclaimed by the archetypal spirit of the times.
They claimed that this book, title Sex and Character, touched, if somewhat one-sidedly and perhaps not entirely explicitly, on the deepest truths of the contemporary era.
There were also others, those for example who by profession were doctors to the insane, who maintained that the only serious libraries in which the two books, title Sex and Character and title Concerning the Last Things, belonged were the libraries of asylums for the insane.
They did not mean in the patient's library either, but rather in the doctor's library, so that the doctors could study the two books as typical examples of contemporary lunacy.
As you see, a greater divergence of opinion could not be imagined.
On the one hand, there was an almost prayerful reverence for a great work of genius.
On the other, this work was viewed as a product of lunacy.
And some of what is to be found in the book, title Sex and Character, is indeed curious.
But it could only have surprised those who had not concerned themselves intensively with certain thoughts that had been coming to the surface during the last few decades.
To begin with, Weininger said, not in precisely these words, for with so fat a book it is necessary to abbreviate, up to now the views of mankind have been the views of Philistines and pedants.
The Philistines and pedants have always believed that there are two kinds of human being in the world, men and women.
But only a true Philistine could believe that there are just men and women in the world.
To really understand the world, one must rise above the Philistine view that there are just men and women in the world.
For Weininger believes it is not true that there are only two sexual identities, masculine and feminine.
With great correctness and diplomacy, he calls the masculine and feminine characters respectively M and W.
But according to Weininger, there is no one in the world who is exclusively M or W.
And it would be unfortunate if there were someone who would have to be designated as entirely M or entirely W.
For, asks Weininger, what is a proper woman? A proper woman is not even a something, but is the negation of a something, is nothingness.
Now there are some individuals walking about who are not properly here in this world.
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