The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir - Iseult Gillespie
-
0:07 - 0:11At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir
became the youngest person -
0:11 - 0:15to take the philosophy exams
at France’s most esteemed university. -
0:15 - 0:17She passed with flying colors.
-
0:17 - 0:20But as soon as she mastered
the rules of philosophy, -
0:20 - 0:21she wanted to break them.
-
0:21 - 0:24She’d been schooled
on Plato’s Theory of Forms, -
0:24 - 0:27which dismissed the physical world
as a flawed reflection -
0:27 - 0:30of higher truths and unchanging ideals.
-
0:30 - 0:34But for de Beauvoir,
earthly life was enthralling, sensual, -
0:34 - 0:36and anything but static.
-
0:36 - 0:40Her desire to explore the physical world
to its fullest would shape her life, -
0:40 - 0:45and eventually,
inspire a radical new philosophy. -
0:45 - 0:49Endlessly debating with her romantic
and intellectual partner Jean Paul Sartre, -
0:49 - 0:53de Beauvoir explored free will, desire,
rights and responsibilities, -
0:53 - 0:56and the value of personal experience.
-
0:56 - 0:58In the years following WWII,
-
0:58 - 1:01these ideas would converge
into the school of thought -
1:01 - 1:05most closely associated with their work:
existentialism. -
1:05 - 1:08Where Judeo-Christian traditions
taught that -
1:08 - 1:10humans are born with preordained purpose,
-
1:10 - 1:14de Beauvoir and Sartre proposed
a revolutionary alternative. -
1:14 - 1:16They argued that humans are born free,
-
1:16 - 1:20and thrown into existence
without a divine plan. -
1:20 - 1:24As de Beauvoir acknowledged, this freedom
is both a blessing and a burden. -
1:24 - 1:29In "The Ethics of Ambiguity" she argued
that our greatest ethical imperative -
1:29 - 1:31is to create our own life’s meaning,
-
1:31 - 1:34while protecting the freedom
of others to do the same. -
1:34 - 1:36As de Beauvoir wrote,
-
1:36 - 1:42“A freedom which is interested only
in denying freedom must be denied.” -
1:42 - 1:46This philosophy challenged its students
to navigate the ambiguities and conflicts -
1:46 - 1:50our desires produce,
both internally and externally. -
1:50 - 1:52And as de Beauvoir sought to find
her own purpose, -
1:52 - 1:54she began to question:
-
1:54 - 1:57if everyone deserves
to freely pursue meaning, -
1:57 - 2:02why was she restricted by society’s ideals
of womanhood? -
2:02 - 2:05Despite her prolific writing,
teaching and activism, -
2:05 - 2:08de Beauvoir struggled
to be taken seriously by her male peers. -
2:08 - 2:12She’d rejected her Catholic upbringing
and marital expectations -
2:12 - 2:16to study at university, and write memoirs,
fiction and philosophy. -
2:16 - 2:19But the risks she was taking
by embracing this lifestyle -
2:19 - 2:21were lost on many
of her male counterparts, -
2:21 - 2:24who took these freedoms for granted.
-
2:24 - 2:27They had no intellectual interest
in de Beauvoir’s work, -
2:27 - 2:29which explored women’s inner lives,
-
2:29 - 2:33as well the author’s open relationship
and bisexuality. -
2:33 - 2:35To convey the importance
of her perspective, -
2:35 - 2:39de Beauvoir embarked
on her most challenging book yet. -
2:39 - 2:42Just as she’d created the foundations
of existentialism, -
2:42 - 2:45she’d now redefine the limits of gender.
-
2:45 - 2:51Published in 1949, "The Second Sex"
argues that, like our life’s meaning, -
2:51 - 2:53gender is not predestined.
-
2:53 - 2:55As de Beauvoir famously wrote,
-
2:55 - 2:58“one is not born, but rather becomes,
woman.” -
2:58 - 3:03And to “become” a woman, she argued,
was to become the Other. -
3:03 - 3:06De Beauvoir defined Othering
as the process of labeling women -
3:06 - 3:11as less than the men who’d
historically defined, and been defined as, -
3:11 - 3:13the ideal human subjects.
-
3:13 - 3:17As the Other, she argued that women
were considered second to men, -
3:17 - 3:22and therefore systematically restricted
from pursuing freedom. -
3:22 - 3:25"The Second Sex" became
an essential feminist treatise, -
3:25 - 3:28offering a detailed history
of women’s oppression -
3:28 - 3:30and a wealth of anecdotal testimony.
-
3:30 - 3:33"The Second Sex"’s combination
of personal experience -
3:33 - 3:35and philosophical intervention
-
3:35 - 3:38provided a new language
to discuss feminist theory. -
3:38 - 3:43Today, those conversations are still
informed by de Beauvoir’s insistence -
3:43 - 3:45that in the pursuit of equality,
-
3:45 - 3:49“there is no divorce between
philosophy and life.” -
3:49 - 3:52Of course, like any foundational work,
-
3:52 - 3:55the ideas in "The Second Sex" have been
expanded upon since its publication. -
3:55 - 3:59Many modern thinkers have explored
additional ways people are Othered -
3:59 - 4:01that de Beauvoir doesn’t acknowledge.
-
4:01 - 4:04These include racial
and economic identities, -
4:04 - 4:09as well as the broader spectrum of gender
and sexual identities we understand today. -
4:09 - 4:11De Beauvoir’s legacy
is further complicated -
4:11 - 4:16by accusations of sexual misconduct
by two of her university students. -
4:16 - 4:18In the face of these accusations,
-
4:18 - 4:22she had her teaching license revoked
for abusing her position. -
4:22 - 4:26In this aspect and others,
de Beauvoir’s life remains controversial— -
4:26 - 4:31and her work represents a contentious
moment in the emergence of early feminism. -
4:31 - 4:35She participated in those conversations
for the rest of her life; -
4:35 - 4:40writing fiction, philosophy,
and memoirs until her death in 1986. -
4:40 - 4:43Today, her work offers
a philosophical language -
4:43 - 4:46to be reimagined, revisited
and rebelled against— -
4:46 - 4:50a response this revolutionary thinker
might have welcomed.
- Title:
- The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir - Iseult Gillespie
- Speaker:
- Iseult Gillespie
- Description:
-
View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-meaning-of-life-according-to-simone-de-beauvoir-iseult-gillespie
At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir became the youngest person to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university. But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy, she wanted to break them. Her desire to explore the physical world to its fullest would shape her life, and eventually, inspire radical new philosophies. Iseult Gillespie explores the life of the revolutionary thinker.
Lesson by Iseult Gillespie, directed by Sarah Saidan.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 04:50
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