Existentialism
Key Existentialist Theme
A key existentialist theme is the contingency of existence.
There is no necessity that we exist. Because of this, there is no predetermined human essence or fixed standard of value.
Human existence is an ambiguous mixture of two things:
- The internal freedom to transcend the given conditions of the world.
- The weight of the world, which imposes itself on us in ways outside our control and not of our own choosing.
Transcendence
Transcendence means moving beyond non-essential existence, or nothingness, by engaging in spontaneous, internally derived projects that are valuable on their own.
Immanence
Immanence means being treated as part of the environment and relying on the external validation and meaning of others.
Against Sartre
Against Sartre, Beauvoir argues that some situations cannot simply be transcended.
Some situations serve as strict inhibitors of action.
Feminism
The Second Sex
In The Second Sex, Beauvoir argues that woman has been held in a relationship of long-standing oppression to man through her relegation to the status of man’s Other.
Woman:
is the incidental, the inessential, as opposed to the essential. He is the subject, he is the Absolute—she is the other.
Men have been privileged with expressing transcendence through projects.
Women, by contrast, have been forced into the repetitive and uncreative life of immanence.
The Source of Women’s Subordination
None of the so-called facts about women fully explain woman’s subordination to man.
These include:
- Biological facts
- Psychoanalytic facts
- Materialistic facts
- Historical facts
- Anthropological facts
Beauvoir’s famous claim is:
One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.
A woman’s situation is what causes her to take on a subordinate role.
But because this situation is made, it can also be changed.
The Modern Woman
A modern woman:
prides herself on thinking, taking action, working, creating, on the same terms as men; instead of seeking to disparage them, she declares herself their equal.
Conditions for Equality
To ensure women’s equality, society should provide:
- Universal childcare
- Equal education
- Contraception
- Legal abortion
- Women’s economic freedom
- Women’s independence from men
Questions
Note: all of the following criticisms are criticisms from the left. This is because many students may approach Beauvoir’s views from a left-leaning viewpoint. Also, many right-leaning criticisms are simply the views Beauvoir is attacking, so they are fairly apparent.
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Some critics from the Marxist tradition have criticized Beauvoir for not paying enough attention to class in her analysis. What do you think of this criticism? Is class a better lens through which to analyze issues of transcendence and immanence? Do the problems women face vary depending on class?
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Some critics have criticized Beauvoir for taking a Eurocentric approach to her analysis. Is this a fair criticism? Is culture a better lens through which to analyze issues of transcendence and immanence? Do the problems women face vary depending on culture?
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Some critics from the collectivist tradition have criticized Beauvoir for giving too much emphasis to individualism and individual freedom. They worry that an emphasis on individual choice downplays structural issues regarding women’s oppression and could overlook the importance of collective action. Are collectivism and individual freedom in tension? Which should we care about more? Should a woman give up some of her individual freedom for the sake of freeing other women?
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Some critics have criticized Beauvoir for being overly essentialist because she includes discussion of the female body and maternity. They worry that these discussions offer too much of a difference between men’s and women’s bodies. Is this a valid concern? Is there no room for discussions of bodies when it comes to women? If we are talking about women as a group, is there no room for talk of maternity?