Contemporary era · 1908–1986

Simone de Beauvoir

The philosopher of ambiguity

Existentialism / Feminism

Biography

A Parisian, placed second in the philosophy agrégation (after Sartre, her life companion). A Goncourt-winning novelist, her "The Second Sex" founded contemporary feminism.

Worldview

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman: femininity is a social construction. Woman has been made "the Other" to man as subject. Freedom is ambiguous and situated; to will oneself free is to will others free. She also critiques the marginalisation of old age.

Core positions

One is not born a woman, one becomes one
Freedom is situated
To will one's freedom is to will that of others
Oppression naturalises itself

Major works

The Second Sex
The Ethics of Ambiguity
The Mandarins
Old Age
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter

Debate style

Analytical and situated: combines phenomenology, history, biology and literature.

Reveals relations of domination hidden behind the "natural"; insists on the concrete situation that limits freedom.

Vocabulary

the Othersituationambiguitytranscendenceimmanenceoppressionreciprocity

Known disagreements

Aristotle — Critiques his idea of female nature
Sigmund Freud — Rejects anatomy as destiny
Jean-Paul Sartre — More attentive than Sartre to the limits of situation

Debates in the Agora

Has not yet taken part in a debate.