Studies of Simone de Beauvoir have mostly concentrated on her literature, her life, and her famous 1949 work, The Second Sex, and the continued emphasis has been on Beauvoir’s views on gender. The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir places her theory of women’s ‘otherness’ in the context of a number of contemporary theories on a similar subject. While gender takes its place among these, Professor Deutscher counterbalances its grip on our memory of Beauvoir’s ideas by situating it in the context of our relationship to ageing, to generational difference, and to race and cultural difference. By differentiating the many aspects of ‘otherness’, Beauvoir revisited some of the concepts of reciprocity, ambiguity, and ethics for which she is best remembered.
• Major study of an iconic thinker of the twentieth century by a senior American scholar • Unlike any competing books, Professor Deutscher also studies Beauvoir’s later works about ageing (which is neglected in recent scholarship) and gives this equal emphasis to her work on gender • Of interest to audiences in numerous disciplines including history of ideas, philosophy and modern French studies
Contents
Introduction: Simone de Beauvoir's conversions; 1. Conversions of ambiguity; 2. American bad faith; 3. Conversions of repetition; 4. Conversions of alterity: race, sex, age; 5. Conversions of reciprocity; Conclusion.
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