本書是奧地利猶太裔哲學傢奧托·魏寜格23歲時發錶的著作，也是他生前發錶的惟一著作。一百年來，《性與性格》一直在被研究和爭論。人們對它眾說紛紜，褒貶不一——或舵拍案喝彩，或對它口誅筆伐。其重要原因之一就是它不同於一般的性心理學專著，更不是坊間常見的那種打著性學旗號的庸俗讀物。它不但提齣瞭帶有普遍性和根本性的兩性關係問題，而且從哲學、邏輯學、倫理學和心理學等多個角度對這些問題進行瞭反傳統的探討。本書的思想維度如此深廣，卻齣自一個如此年輕的哲學傢，實屬罕見。

Otto Weininger's controversial book Sex and Character, first published in Vienna in 1903, is a prime example of the conflicting discourses central to its time: antisemitism, scientific racism and biologism, misogyny, the cult and crisis of masculinity, psychological introspection versus empiricism, German idealism, the women's movement and the idea of human emancipation, the quest for sexual liberation, and the debates about homosexuality. Combining rational reasoning with irrational outbursts, in the context of today's scholarship, Sex and Character speaks to issues of gender, race, cultural identity, the roots of Nazism, and the intellectual history of modernism and modern European culture. This new translation presents, for the first time, the entire text, including Weininger's extensive appendix with amplifications of the text and bibliographical references, in a reliable English translation, together with a substantial introduction that places the book in its cultural and historical context.