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Name:
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie-Ernestine-Marie-Bartrand de Beauvoir
Date:
Born: January 9, 1908 in Paris, France
Died: April 14, 1986 in Paris, France
Taught High School: 1931-1943
Specialization:
Existentialism
Feminism
Major Works:
The Ethics of Ambiguity (1942)
The Second Sex (1949)
Old Age (1970)
Biography:
Simone de Beauvoir was a French novelist who played an important role in
the development of existentialism and feminism in the 20th century. A number
of her novels were explicitly about existentialist themes, for example the attempt
to find meaning and purpose in an absurd world. Her involvement with
existentialism began in 1929 when she met Jean Paul Sartre at the Sorbonne.
In her famous work The Second Sex, she traced the historical pattern of male oppression of women through historical, literary, and even mythical sources. Her conclusion was that the current repression experienced by women was largely due to the idea that maleness was the norm while femaleness is somehow "other" and "different." This leads to feelings of self-alienation which are unique to women, thus making their oppression fundamentally different from that experienced by other groups in society.
Quotes:
Woman's brain is smaller; yes, but it is relatively larger. Christ was made a man; yes, but perhaps for his greater humility. Each argument at once suggests its opposite, and both are often fallacious.
Legislators, priests, philosophers, writers, and scientists have striven to show that the subordinate position of woman is willed in heaven and advantageous on earth. The religions invented by men reflect this wish for domination. In the legends of Eve and Pandora men have taken up arms against women. They have made use of philosophy and theology, as the quotations from Aristotle and St Thomas have shown.
Thus it is that no group ever sets itself up as the One without at once setting up the Other over against itself. If three travellers chance to occupy the same compartment, that is enough to make vaguely hostile 'others' out of all the rest of the passengers on the train. In small-town eyes all persons not belonging to the village are 'strangers' and suspect; to the native of a country all who inhabit other countries are 'foreigners'; Jews are 'different' for the anti-Semite, Negroes are 'inferior' for American racists, aborigines are 'natives' for colonists, proletarians are the 'lower class' for the privileged.
Major Works:
The Second Sex (1949)
The Ethics of Ambiguity
Coming of Age (1970)
Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
Biographies of Philosophers
This index of biographical index of famous philosophers throughout history includes many others who have contributed to our understanding of human nature and life - including sociologists, psychologists, scientists, and more.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
