The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir. Un-TechTalk

[immi007]

At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir became the youngest person to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university.She passed with flying colors.

But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy, she wanted to break them.

She’d been schooled on Plato’s Theory of Forms,
which dismissed the physical world as a flawed reflection of higher truths and unchanging ideals.
But for de Beauvoir, earthly life was enthralling, sensual, and anything but static.

Her desire to explore the physical world to its fullest would shape her life, and eventually, inspire a radical new philosophy.

Endlessly debating with her romantic and intellectual partner Jean Paul Sartre, de Beauvoir explored free will, desire, rights and responsibilities, and the value of personal experience.

In the years following WWII, these ideas would converge into the school of thought most closely associated with their work: existentialism.

Where Judeo-Christian traditions taught that humans are born with preordained purpose, de Beauvoir and Sartre proposed a revolutionary alternative.

They argued that humans are born free, and thrown into existence without a divine plan.

As de Beauvoir acknowledged, this freedom is both a blessing and a burden. 
In "The Ethics of Ambiguity" she argued that our greatest ethical imperative is to create our own life’s meaning, while protecting the freedom of others to do the same.

As de Beauvoir wrote,
“A freedom which is interested only in denying freedom must be denied.”

This philosophy challenged its students to navigate the ambiguities and conflicts our desires produce, both internally and externally. And as de Beauvoir sought to find her own purpose, 

she began to question:

if everyone deserves to freely pursue meaning,
why was she restricted by society’s ideals of womanhood?
Despite her prolific writing, teaching and activism, de Beauvoir struggled to be taken seriously by her male peers.
She’d rejected her Catholic upbringing and marital expectations to study at university, and write memoirs, fiction and philosophy. But the risks she was taking by embracing this lifestyle were lost on many of her male counterparts, who took these freedoms for granted.

They had no intellectual interest in de Beauvoir’s work, which explored women’s inner lives, as well the author’s open relationship and bisexuality.

To convey the importance of her perspective, de Beauvoir embarked on her most challenging book yet.
Just as she’d created the foundations of existentialism, she’d now redefine the limits of gender.
Published in 1949, "The Second Se.x" argues that, like our life’s meaning, gender is not predestined. As de Beauvoir famously wrote, “one is not born, but rather becomes, woman.” And to “become” a woman, she argued, was to become the Other.

De Beauvoir defined Othering as the process of labelling women as less than the men who’d historically defined, and been defined as, the ideal human subjects.

As the Other, she argued that women were considered second to men, and therefore systematically restricted from pursuing freedom.
"The Second Se.x" became an essential feminist treatise, offering a detailed history of women’s oppression and a wealth of anecdotal testimony.
"The Second Se.x"’s combination of personal experience and philosophical intervention
provided a new language to discuss feminist theory.

Today, those conversations are still informed by de Beauvoir’s insistence that in the pursuit of equality,
“there is no divorce between philosophy and life.”

Of course, like any foundational work,
the ideas in "The Second Se.x" have been expanded upon since its publication. Many modern thinkers have explored additional ways people are Othered that de Beauvoir doesn’t acknowledge.
These include racial and economic identities, as well as the broader spectrum of gender and sexual identities we understand today.

De Beauvoir’s legacy is further complicated by accusations of sexual misconduct by two of her university students.
In the face of these accusations, she had her teaching license revoked for abusing her position.

In this aspect and others, de Beauvoir’s life remains controversial— and her work represents a contentious moment in the emergence of early feminism. She participated in those conversations for the rest of her life; writing fiction, philosophy, and memoirs until her death in 1986.

Today, her work offers a philosophical language to be reimagined, revisited and rebelled against— a response this revolutionary thinker might have welcomed.

-by Iseult Gillespie

[Anonymous]

if you talk about todays women....they are socially accepted wh*res not more than that its just that....i would say in this platform also they are undisguised wh#res. I want to ask these unmarried women/girl i mean what pleasure do you get just by window shopping men....what i mean in this article the author's work/beliefs was not heard by men. But since this wh#re women empowerment women have just turned themselves into a wh#re which has become socially acceptable. I have seen women in bangalore, in mumbai these women just use information to judge the persons abilities in which there parents will also support....playing cheap way of getting a groom 😂😂😂🤣🤣....I mean get a life women we have IVF technology. Now since women are empowered whether in right way or wrong that is a different question. Go to doctor do the IVF and get a child born in your belly and get a life rather than just window shopping. Because your wh#re activities is accepted socially then obviously somebody else's sp#rm would also be accepted socially. Point to Ponder (So called misusing the word of #Women Empowerment). And they will go beyond that if you are rejected by these women they will make sure that you don't get anyother women. If that is not enough they will research more deep on your family history and use that against you so that theybcan get the tag line that koi bhi mere samne mile if he is not useful to me then i will make him useless. Jai Ho Maharaniyo....You are destined for heaven....Hell was closed long ago because you are creating hell here alone so whats the point in going to hell again.😂😂😂😅😅😅. Its unbelievably comic 😂😂😂. I think these women have forgotten that they are women and they pretending to be men.

[immi007]

i guess you have very much of this experience with women.

i can't argue that
but
i believe there are only a handful of them (above) in an ocean of women.. who do that

i think Women are empowered when they are able to access the opportunities available to them without limitations and restrictions such as in education, profession and lifestyle.

[immi007]

Also thank your for taking time to read it and sharing your opinion on it.

- also do you think i should post more like these... just as a experiment i posted it.

groom part hit good 👍

[Anonymous]

sorry bro every unmarried women is turning like this....even the girl child around 13 years of age has started learning this because the girl also knows ki if i did anything wrong my parents and women empowerment will protect me.. Inko responsibilty bolo ghanta kuch karenge ulta karvake lenge....see there i believe there has to be a balance in everything which had been impossible by this unmarried or yet to be married wh#re mongers. And the worst they will not come face to face to defend themselves unke Ga**nd main dum hee nahi hai aur naahi rahega aage bhi....Jai Ho Women Empowerment. Constitution main leke aana chahiye ki upto certain age if women is unmarried she should opt for IVF or adopt a kid to get a life...Usme bhi hartaal karenge ye yede....bolenge freedom chahiye 😂😂😂😂

[immi007]

bro

the type you say

are those who bail on life and known as gold diggers...

there are many who aren't like that.

it may take time but to know someone and that you think of them differs from time to time ...

I don't bring old sister mother argument but there are women who aren't what you said ...

bhai whoo Constitution mee anne paar bhi kuch badolega naahi ...,😅

haar ek individual choice hai unka life joo banna hai...

freedom tho hai paar uska uppagyog karna different hoga...

[Anonymous]

Na bhai i dont agree jara mera nazariye se dekh jo maine dekha hai experience kiya hai.....even divorced women are doing the same thing and her brother and family members support them...what would you say to these kind of people...like i said they can never come face to face.....

[immi007]

bhai abhi yee book padana hoga ... phir reply dunga

[Anonymous]

@vishanavi is an exception to these women category

[immi007]

👍