De Beauvoir Research Articles

The Female Man ve The Left Hand of Darkness Romanlarında İkinci Dalga Feminizmin Yansıması

Women science fiction writers of the 60s and 70s reflected second wave feminist ideologies in their fictional works. The distinctive narrative techniques of science fiction genre brought out various aspects of feminist ideas in different ways. Issues related to gender and sex were embedded in the elements of science fiction such as parallel universes, androgynies, intersex, mindreading, planets, aliens, and inventions. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) and Joanna Russ’s The Female Man (1975), through these elements, raise questions about gender equality, body politics, ethics, and social constructions. These science fiction novels have themes that are closely related to the central texts debated among second wave feminists such as Simon de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963). Le Guin and Russ apply feminist theories to unconventional lives and societies, whose uniqueness or oddity helps readers think outside of the box. By presenting alternative societies, they unfold how male domination can cause sexual objectification and gender inequality, and anatomic differences in science fiction worlds creates an awareness concerning constructed gender roles. Moreover, the second wave feminists’ emphasis on sexual freedom, birth control, and marriage are illustrated through the multi-faceted outcomes of these multi-directional utopic and dystopic societies. This paper aims to bring together second wave feminist ideas and science fiction through an examination of two works, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Female Man, both of which present resisting interpretations of traditional gender issues. Unorthodox approaches to gender, the peculiar structure of the societies, and body politics will be analyzed through the narratives and elements of science fiction. Further-more, this paper will illustrate how these novels challenge conventional definitions of gender and sex in the light of second wave feminism.

Existentialism and Exemplars

AbstractIn this paper, Kate Kirkpatrick argues that the recent return to moral exemplars in exemplarist moral theory might benefit from engaging with existentialists' use of exemplars in two ways: first, by considering the role of negative exemplars and the power of emotions other than admiration in moral formation; and second, by considering objections to exemplarist education, in particular Simone de Beauvoir's objection that narrative exemplars often serve an ideological function and perpetuate oppressive ideals — especially (but not only) about women. After situating this discussion in ancient and recent debates about the role of literary narratives in moral formation, Kirkpatrick outlines a moral perfectionist reading of Beauvoir and an objection to exemplarist moral theory's reliance on exemplars that “we” admire on the basis that “the admirable” often serves to promote the interests of the powerful rather than the flourishing of all human beings. Finally, while agreeing with this symposium's editors that efforts to improve our understanding of how to use narrative exemplars in educational settings are valuable, she asks how, given the force of the Beauvoirian objection, their criterion of “appropriate critical reflection” might be met.

Devalued Body of The Grobogan Tayub Dancer

Abstract
 This study aims to describe how Lasmi, a Tayub dancer Legend from Grobogan (an area near the North Kendeng Mountains) experiences others in various aspects of her life, especially when she lives in the art stage. The author uses the in-depth interview method in addition to supporting documents such as previous research, YouTube channels, news, and interviews with supporting sources by absorbing awareness of gender-based insights and feminism. The author borrows the theory of Liyan or subaltern/ the others from Gayatri Spivak and De Beauvoir which describes how women live and grow with the experience as the other group or not the main one. The research subject is Lasmi, who had her heyday in the 1980s to early 2000s. Lasmi is an example of an Indonesian postcolonial body, which means a body who does not come from a center of power, and does not come from the center of the metropolitan modern arts of its time. A body like this experiences otherness and marginalization in society and always becomes an object, especially from a male point of view or male gaze. The body of the other is always close to experiencing problems, being number two, and always being compared to others. In her life, Lasmi was experienced as the other in both public and domestic areas. Serving the public area when she was working as Waranggana Tayub was required to please many people, did not have full rights over his body, did not have enough time to rest, did not have maternity rest was adored if she was beautiful, and was bullied if she was ugly. Even so, she also experienced the others or subalterns in the domestic area. She is also a breadwinner and must also be demanded to be perfect in the house. She experienced domestic violence, was physically exhausted, and did not have full control over the money she earned. Even though she had experienced her heyday, in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic she was also included in a marginal group that was highly trained, due to the PSBB (Large-Scale Social Restrictions) so she could no longer dance and performed as she used to be. She has also suffered from an age devaluation, which has resulted in her being rarely invited for performing arts, and losing out to the young waranggana.
 Keywords: Gender, Feminism, Liyan, The Other, Subaltern, Kendeng, Tayub, Grobogan, COVID-19, Postcolonial Feminism

‘Wir hätten keine Zukunft mehr?’ Hedwig Dohm’s Future-Orientated Ideas of Aging in Feminist Writings from the 1900s and her Short Story Werde, die du bist

ABSTRACT Around 1900, the feminist Hedwig Dohm (1831–1919) drew attention to acts of silencing with respect to women in later years. Her essays, such as ‘Die alte Frau’ (1903) and ‘Mutter und Großmutter’ (1912), and her short story Werde, die du bist (1894) highlight how addressing the question of old age requires a transformation of attitudes towards the human. This essay draws on Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy in The Coming of Age (La vieillesse, 1970) to explore the notion of age as a ‘cultural fact’ in relation to Hedwig Dohm’s critical engagement with the marginalization of women. Dohm’s writings — from her own later years — intervene to cast light on cultural double standards concerning a gendered life course; they also engage with the otherness of the body and reflect on ways of keeping the future open to alternative possibilities.

Exploring the Traces of Humanism: An Investigation into Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook

This research article dwells upon the exploration of the various colours of humanism as reflected most impressively in Doris Lessing’s most famous novel, The Golden Notebook. During her long-spanning literary career, she did receive a very deep impression and motivation from her contemporary female-writers such as Mary Wollstone Craft, Kate Millet, Elain Showalter, Simone de Beauvoir and Virginia Woolf and some others. Like all these feminist-writers, she too was very deeply concerned with the mental harassment, rape-violence and the sexual exploitation of the females in the existing phallocentric society. She too accelerated the movement of feminism even in the contemporary period. Being a woman, she could understand much better the issues and the problems of the females. Thus, through her novels, she has very strongly advocated for the equality, liberty and fraternity to the females without any kind of gender-discrimination. She is not an object of sexual gratification, confined to the domestic activities, but rather she has her oven self-esteem, love and honour. She cannot lose her self-esteem at any cost. By dint of her novels, she very strongly raised her voices against gender-discrimination, social injustice, sexual exploitation, mental torture and misconduct being committed to the females. In her most famous novel, The Golden Notebook, she happens to introduce the two lady characters– Anna and Molly, living together in a London flat in 1957 in their free and independent life-style. These intermittent narrative frames four huge sections dedicated to Anna’s notebooks of the 1950’s,’ a black notebook dealing with the African experience, out of which, she has written her only novel; the red for politics – the decline and fall of the communist myth; blue a record of free relations with men, and of rosy dreams and sessions with her analyst; yellow in which she takes up stories; mostly drafts of a novel in which ‘Ella’ re-enacts a large part of Anna’s experience. In all this, what it means to be ‘free women’ is very thoroughly articulated and worked out. The question of living “lives like men” poses an illusion within the narrative. Despite Anna’s engagement in a sexual relationship with the same liberty as a man, it inevitably culminates in an undesirable dependency. This aspect alongside the overwhelming freedom of choice that stifles her literary endeavors, the unchecked freedom permitted by the world’s irresponsible state, and the paradoxical liberty of a woman obsessed with the notion of integrity, who is fatefully bound to navigate randomly to discern the significance of her actions, collectively construct the novel’s intricate framework. Despite the evident complexity, the novel’s most remarkable attribute does not lie in its profound or original difficulty. Contrarily, it resonates a compelling conviction of closely mirroring actual experiences. Within this realistic depiction, the anticipated concerns of a mid-twentieth-century writer organically find their respective positions, enhancing the authenticity and relatability of the narrative. It is simply an exceptional documentation of the experience of female autonomy and responsibility in connection to men and other women. It illustrates the endeavor to achieve self-reconciliation regarding these relationships, as well as issues of writing and politics. The document’s distinctiveness is highlighted by its unwavering honesty and extensive scope, providing a unique exploration of these multifaceted dimensions. It has got a very wide range of interest among the readers. Thus, it remains as a sort of the book that determines the way people think about themselves.

The Theme of Feminism in Caryl Churchill's Top Girls

The feminist theory is a movement best generally to encourage empower and to establish women’s on individuality based on the equality and rights to live independently without any support in the society one of the best word Simone De Beauvoir states that, “One is not born but rather becomes a woman”. In our society still in the modern era in which we are living and generalising woman as equally but they are being oppressed in some areas in their life. Caryl Churchill depicts the best position of a woman in the play top girls. It reflects the independent, strong and powerful image of a woman in the modern era society.

Existential Feminism in Andrea Hirata’s Novel Padang Bulan and Cinta Di Dalam Gelas

Abstract. Gender issues have remained a hot issue owing to various influencing factors, including gender overlap and social inequality. Gender is a social sex reconstructed by society for both men and women. The gender difference stereotypes have given rise to gender injustice detrimental to women. The presence of the concept of existential feminism initiated by Simone De Beauvoir is a bright spot and hope for all women, especially those in patriarchal system communities. The purpose of this research is to uncover the traditional paradigm that women are cultural products and their independence is delimited. This is not in accordance with the concept of human rights which basically states that every human being has the same rights in carrying out life. So it is hoped that this paper can be used as a reference to eliminate the marginalization of women. The research is carried out using a qualitative descriptive design with phenomenological method to explore or photograph social situations thoroughly, broadly and deeply and also supported by the theory of sociology of literature, the description of social reality in literary works. The data collection procedures and the data analysis are done systematically based on the existing theories of qualitative research method. The results of the research show that the protagonist implements the existential feminist concept through the ability to work, being intellectual and responsible. Throughout the research it is proved that existential feminism still exists to explore the marginalization of woman, summed up with a text that women are independent beings. Keywords: Existential Feminism, Intellect, Profession, Responsibility

Neither the Third Nor the Fourth Age: Viewing Old Age Through the Philosophical Lens of Ambiguity.

This paper argues that the philosophy of ambiguity, associated with Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Simone de Beauvoir, provides a helpful framework for understanding the complex and paradoxical nature of old age outside the dominant categories of the "third" and "fourth" ages. Building on philosophical literature in cultural gerontology including that focused on the "art of living" and other approaches that draw on existentialist thought, it suggests "ambiguity" as a theme that has been overlooked in such literature. The advantage of this approach is that it can accommodate contradictory elements and thus underpin an integrated approach to old age. At the same time, in distinguishing between ontological and social dimensions of ambiguity, the conceptual framework offers a new perspective on ageism that can help clarify the distinction between ageism as oppression and the negative aspects of deep old age itself. The paper is structured as follows. After making the case for the value and importance of "ambiguity" as a framework for viewing old age, I set out the key aspects of this philosophy as found in the work of Merleau-Ponty and particularly Beauvoir. I then apply this framework to a discussion of 2 literary memoirs of deep old age, by Diana Athill and Florida Scott-Maxwell, respectively. I argue that the picture of old age that emerges contrasts with the hegemonic discourses enframed by successful aging and frailed old age and offers the possibility not only of a true appreciation of old age but also of a more meaningful life course itself.

Beauvoir and Sartre's “disagreement” about freedom

AbstractThe French existentialists Simone de Beauvoir and Jean‐Paul Sartre are renowned philosophers of freedom. But what “existentialist freedom” is is a matter of disagreement amongst their interpreters and, some argue, between Beauvoir and Sartre themselves. Since the late 1980s several scholars have argued that a Sartrean conception of freedom cannot justify the ethics of existentialism, adequately account for situations of oppression, or serve feminist ends. On these readings, Beauvoir disagreed with Sartre about freedom—making existentialist ethics, resistance to oppression, and feminism coherently defensible. This article identifies four conceptions of freedom in order to clarify the questions of whether and how they disagreed, arguing that some incompatibilist readings of Sartre and Beauvoir conflate or confuse these conceptions in ways that render their conclusions unconvincing. However, there are stronger grounds on which to claim that Beauvoir disagreed with Sartre about morality—and the conditions of its possibility.

The Lightscape as Literary Motif for Inequality in Les Belles Images, The Mandarins, and America Day by Day

Abstract This article examines Simone de Beauvoir’s use of a literary motif to convey her philosophical position on inequality in different geographical locations. The “lightscape,” an evocation of place that foregrounds light’s obfuscation of gritty reality, is considered across three works: Les Belles Images, The Mandarins, and America Day by Day. In these texts, the lightscape’s bifurcated presentation of a given locale reflects how inequality hides in plain sight, and divides the rich from the poor, respectively aligning them with the beautiful and the abject.

Gin, Tonic, and Other Delicious Combinations

Abstract In her 1927 diary, Simone de Beauvoir documents her intent to mix literary style with philosophical content. However, in Anglophone research environments, her works are formally classified as either literature or philosophy. This article questions the legitimacy of this classification by arguing that The Ethics of Ambiguity’s stylistic use of first-person plural narration, metaphor, conversational style, and parable help us understand ambiguity and freedom as necessarily embodied by invoking experiences of both phenomena.

The metaphysical novel as educator: Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy of lived experience

This essay analyzes the educational significance of the metaphysical novel, that is, how it can be used to educate ourselves and our students. Mordechai Gordon begins by describing the nature of the metaphysical novel while contrasting it to “pure” philosophy and theory building. Gordon also situates Beauvoir’s insights in the broader context of the ongoing conversation on philosophy and literature. In the next part, he examines Beauvoir’s philosophy of lived experience and compare her philosophical approach to more traditional phenomenological theories. From the analysis of Beauvoir’s philosophy of lived experience, Gordon turns to explore the role that ambiguity, contingency, and complexity play in helping us make sense of people’s lives while drawing on examples from several metaphysical novels to illustrate these notions. He concludes this essay by reflecting on the question: what can the study of metaphysical novels bring to philosophy of education?

Simone de Beauvoir the Memorialist: The Running Threads Connecting Us

This article considers the recent publications of French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, and offers an overview of contemporary scholarship in Beauvoir Studies. Beauvoir’s canonization in Gallimard’s La Pléiade collection in 2018 is discussed, specifically Gallimard’s choice of Beauvoir’s Mémoires for these first two volumes. Exploring the imbrication of Beauvoir’s philosophy with her own lived experience, the article traces what Annie Ernaux describes as the ‘running threads’ connecting us, namely the ways in which Beauvoir’s legacy is interwoven in our lives today. Surveying recent scholarship highlights the pertinence of Beauvoir’s work to contemporary contexts on issues ranging from sexual violence, subjective agency and female subjugation to emancipatory politics and transnational feminist solidarities. Thereafter, the importance Beauvoir placed on self–Other relations is explored in relation to scholarship on Beauvoir’s epistolary exchanges, the publication of her lost novella Les Inséparables, and on Beauvoir’s philosophy of alterity and old age in light of the pandemic.

Romance, Power, and Female Oppression: A Textual Analysis of Shah Nawaz’s The Heart Divided

This study is based on a Pakistani Anglophone partition novel, Mumtaz Shah Nawaz’s The Heart Divided (1957). This research explores love and romance concerning power and female oppression in the above-mentioned novel. Major theoretical insights are drawn from Simone De Beauvoir’s groundbreaking text The Second Sex (1949) contextualizes love and romance to women in patriarchal societies. In addition to this theoretical support is taken from post-colonial feminism to contextualize and explain the gendered power imbalance and oppression experienced by the third-world women as presented through the fictional characters of the selected novel. This qualitative study hopes to demonstrate that within the South Asian patriarchal society, men use love and romance to oppress women and keep them within the patriarchal limits. It also aims to analyze how women experience, understand, and try to use love and romance as a power-giving strategy but is socially rejected. Men view love and romance differently from women who are more self-effacing and sacrificing in nature. Employing the method of textual analysis, this study also explores how love changes in times of war and can be a destructive force that brings hatred, revenge, and pain.

Logical Relations according to De Beauvoir and Their Impact on Achieving Textual Coherence (Usul Al-Kafi as a Model)

Semantic relationships are the concepts carried by the syntactic structures of the text and are an important axis of textual relationships. The continuity and coherence of the text presupposes the existence of this type of relationship between the parts of the text and determines its appearance and unity. Each language has syntactic systems that work towards the text to control them to give different meanings. They work to gather the ends of the text in a sequential form, and the difference between semantic relationships is due to the difference in syntactic structures in the text, and some surface structures work to highlight meanings in the form of semantic relationships that reveal the meaning of the text and the main purpose for which these relationships were established, and relationships may differ in terms of some of them relying on clear linguistic links in the apparent text, as they are sometimes external relationships that the recipient imposes on the text, not the text itself, and are a result of textual phenomena such as advancement, delay, and pronoun references. There are relationships that become clear through conjunctions that connect sentences, or through referential elements. Relationships represent links for concepts that work to continue meanings in the fabric of the text through exchange between sender and recipient. Every text that is issued from producer to recipient is not free from these relationships, and these relationships take place within an organizational framework governed by the intention of the speaker and the other party, readers. In Kafi's conversations, we find that Al-Maqam relies on the semantic dimension in the process of coherence of texts.

I is Another

This research paper explores the themes of identity, embodiment, and difference. Drawing from personal experiences and philosophical insights, the author delves into the complexities of desire, sexual orientation, and suppressed gender identities. The works of Jean Genet are examined for their subversive nature and their portrayal of trans individuals. The paper also advocates for the practice of smuggling radical ideas into academia, challenging rigid systems. The limitations of logocentrism, identity politics, and hermeneutics are questioned, emphasizing the need for genuine appreciation of difference and an active practice of freedom. Philosophers such as Hélène Cixous, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre are referenced to provide theoretical insights. Ultimately, the paper concludes that embracing difference can lead to a deeper understanding of the self and the world.

Eksistensi Tokoh Perempuan pada Antologi Cerpen Paraban Tuah Karya Elok Teja Suminar (Kajian Feminisme Eksistensialis)

This study describes the existence of female characters in the short story anthology Paraban Tuah by Elok Teja Suminar using the theory of existentialist feminism from Simone De Beauvoir, including her condition and existence. The problem under study is: how is the existence of female characters in the short story anthology Paraban Tuah by Elok Teja Suminar based on Simone De Beauvoir's existentialist feminism? The purpose of this research is to describe the form of existence of female characters in the anthology of short stories Paraban Tuah by Elok Teja Suminar based on existentialist feminism. This research approach uses a qualitative descriptive method. The research subjects were people who were informants in the study, including the researcher herself and the female Madurese character in the short story anthology Paraban Tuah. The collection technique is using library techniques, reading techniques, and note-taking techniques. The research instrument lies with the researcher himself using note-taking techniques in the form of a data corpus. The results of research on the existence of female characters in the short story anthology Paraban Tuah by Elok Teja Suminar obtained 88 data from 11 short stories, including the existence of female characters in subject-object relations, in the realm of marriage as (child, wife, and mother), the existence of female characters which involves her body as a power of perception and as an obstacle, as well as a form of transcendence of female characters, namely work and intellectuality.

The fertility of moral ambiguity in precision medicine

Although precision medicine cuts across a large spectrum of professions, interdisciplinary and cross-sectorial moral deliberation has yet to be widely enacted, let alone formalized in this field. In a recent research project on precision medicine, we designed a dialogical forum (i.e. ‘the Ethics Laboratory’) giving interdisciplinary and cross-sectorial stakeholders an opportunity to discuss their moral conundrums in concert. We organized and carried out four Ethics Laboratories. In this article, we use Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of moral ambiguity as a lens to frame the participants’ experience with fluid moral boundaries. By framing our approach through this concept we are able to elucidate irremediable moral issues that are collectively underexplored in the practice of precision medicine. Moral ambiguity accentuates an open and free space where different types of perspectives converge and can inform each other. Based on our study, we identified two dilemmas, or thematic interfaces, in the interdisciplinary moral deliberations which unfolded in the Ethics Laboratories: (1) the dilemma between the individual and the collective good; and (2) the dilemma between care and choice. Through our investigation of these dilemmas, we show how Beauvoir’s concept of moral ambiquity not only serves as a fertile catalyst for greater moral awareness but, furthermore, how the concept can become an indispensable part of the practices of and the discourse about precision medicine.

The Female Economic Independence in Mother Courage and Her Children

This research investigates female economic independence throughout the war in Brecht's play Mother Courage and her Children (1941). Mother Courage is a single mother alongside her three children making sacrifices and hustling to provide for herself and her children not being dependent on a male to live but only on her personal wagon. The methods used to prove her perseverance to achieve economic independence are through the lenses of two materialist feminist theories the first one is Simone De Beauvoir and her theories are taken from her book The Second Sex (2011). The second theory belongs to Charlotte Gilman and her book Women and Economics (1898). These theories are used to analyze the text of the play and spot the whereabouts of materialist feminism and how this character is following what is called materialist feminism, even though it was written before the theories. At the end of this study, a clear picture is formed of how Mother Courage truly proved herself worthy of the title “Mother Courage” in a sense of achieving or at least never giving up to create her financial goals to be an independent working mother through the worst possible scenarios.

Negotiating Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's Bodily Harm

Gender roles, in the context of the present study, specifically refers to traditionally accepted roles in patriarchal societies wherein women’s subordination to their male counterparts is amplified. The study incorporates ideas of feminist theorists, and in particular, Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex where she explores the paradigm of gender roles provides the theoretical foundation upon which the primary text Bodily Harm will be analysed. Traditionally, women’s roles are often confined within the domestic boundaries in which they are expected to fulfil the needs of their family, bereft of financial as well as bodily independence, subjugating them to passivity and submissiveness. Margaret Atwood’s Bodily Harm presents the nuances of gender roles, detailing how girls are conditioned, since their childhood, to conform to these gender roles. The present paper lays emphasis on the female protagonist’s attempt to subvert these roles and the endless conflicts, both internal and external, that she has to endure to acquire agency.