PhilosophersSimone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
Existentialism · Feminist philosophy1908 – 1986 FranceExistentialist philosopherTheorist of feminismMoral philosopherCommitted intellectual
Inspirations
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel the master-slave dialectic: consciousness posits the other as inessential
Søren Kierkegaard ambiguity, set against Hegel (named in The Ethics of Ambiguity)
Jean-Paul Sartre the ontology of Being and Nothingness, which she extends towards an ethics
Emmanuel Kant autonomy, which she extends, and the positive will, which she disputes
criticFrançois Poulain de la Barrequoted in the Introduction: what men have written about women must be suspect, since they are both judge and party
Mary Wollstonecraft same thesis on the education of girls; Beauvoir does not cite her in our excerpts
Heirs
Judith ButlerGender Trouble (1990): extends and discusses the distinction between sex and gender
Luce Irigaraydifference feminism disputes an ideal of autonomy built on the masculine model
criticSimilar and opposite philosophers
how it is computedClosest
Jean-Paul Sartre Existence precedes essence: we are condemned to be free.
97 %Peter Wessel Zapffe Sees human consciousness as an evolutionary excess: people bear it only by limiting it, and the only way out would be to stop passing on life.
86 %Richard Taylor Sisyphus would find meaning in his task if he were given the desire to roll his rock.
86 %Bertrand Russell Clarify thought with logic, doubt dogmas.
81 %