Aphoristic Writings, Notebook, and Letters to a Friend, by Otto ...

letters, as well as the complete collection of aphoristic remarks from Über die letzten
Dinge, (“Aphoristic remarks” and “Last aphorisms”).
We translated from the first editions of both of Weininger’s posthumously
published works. Of particular note is the fact that subsequent editions of Über die
letzten Dinge contain significantly fewer aphorisms than the first edition represented
here. Its editor, Moriz Rappaport, gave as a reason for leaving out those writings that
“a number of them were written in a kind of secret language”. Yet he also said of the
aphorisms in general that “They contain far-reaching thoughts which are not darkened
by the slightest touch of insanity; there is not one word that is not well-considered.” 5
As far as Weininger’s notebook and letters are concerned, they were partly written
in shorthand, and remained in the possession of Arthur Gerber until 1919, when Oskar
Friedländer (a.k.a. Oskar Ewald) helped with the deciphering, and Gerber
subsequently published them.
The reader should keep in mind that the writings presented here were essentially
jotted down by Weininger in notebooks, letters, and postcards. His formally complete
works are to be found in Sex and Character and On Last Things, and the writings here
should be understood within the context of those more polished works.
Kevin Solway & Martin Dudaniec
January, 2002
5
Rapport’s introduction to the second edition of “Über die letzten Dinge” (“On Last Things”) (pp.
xviii-xix)
iii