Ferdinand Probst's book isn't a traditional story. Published in 1904, very soon after Otto Weininger's dramatic suicide, it's a psychiatrist's attempt to make medical sense of the tragedy. Probst takes Weininger's only major work, the sexist and bizarrely influential book 'Sex and Character,' and treats it like a patient's symptom. He pieces together Weininger's extreme ideas about gender and genius, his reported personal struggles, and his final act to construct a psychiatric profile.

The Story

There's no plot in the usual sense. Instead, Probst lays out his case. He presents Weininger's philosophy not as philosophy, but as evidence of a disturbed mind. He highlights the young man's obsessive thinking, his black-and-white worldview, and his deep self-loathing (which Weininger projected onto his theories about women). The 'story' is Probst building his argument, step by step, that Weininger's suicide was the logical, perhaps even inevitable, result of a specific psychological condition. It's a real-time, post-death analysis of a figure who had just captivated and scandalized Vienna.

Why You Should Read It

This book is fascinating not for its conclusions, which feel dated and reductive, but as a historical artifact. Reading it is like stepping into a time machine and sitting in a 1904 psychiatry lecture. You see how professionals of the era tried to apply their new tools to a public mystery. It's also deeply uncomfortable. You can feel Probst's confidence in his diagnosis, but as a modern reader, you see how much he's missing. He reduces a tortured, creative human being to a checklist of pathologies. It makes you think hard about the limits of diagnosis, the ethics of analyzing the dead, and how we've changed (or haven't) in how we talk about mental health and suicide.

Final Verdict

This isn't for everyone. It's a dry, clinical text in German. But if you're interested in the history of psychology, the fin-de-siècle Viennese intellectual scene, or the figure of Weininger himself, it's a crucial and chilling primary source. It's perfect for history buffs who want to go beyond the biography and see how a tragedy was processed by the science of its day. Be prepared to read it critically, to argue with Probst in your head, and to come away with more questions about the observer than the patient.