The Philosophy Book

276

MAN IS DEFINED AS

A HUMAN BEING AND

WOMAN AS A FEMALE

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR (1908–1986)

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Ethics

APPROACH

Feminism

BEFORE

c.350 BCE Aristotle says, “The

female is a female by virtue of

a certain lack of qualities.”

1792 Mary Wollstonecraft

publishes A Vindication of the

Rights of Woman, illustrating

the equality of the sexes.

1920s Martin Heidegger sets

out a “philosophy of existence,”

prefiguring existentialism.

1940s Jean-Paul Sartre says

“existence precedes essence.”

AFTER

1970s Luce Irigaray explores

the philosophical implications

of sexual difference.

From 1980 Julia Kristeva

breaks down the notions

of “male” and “female” as

characterized by de Beauvoir.

F

rench philosopher Simone

de Beauvoir writes in her

book The Second Sex that

throughout history, the standard

measure of what we take to be

human—both in philosophy and

in society at large—has been a

peculiarly male view. Some

philosophers, such as Aristotle,

have been explicit in equating full

humanity with maleness. Others

have not said as much, but have

nevertheless taken maleness as the

standard against which humanity

is to be judged. It is for this reason

that de Beauvoir says that the Self

(or “I”) of philosophical knowledge

is by default male, and his binary

pair—the female—is therefore

something else, which she calls

the Other. The Self is active and

knowing, whereas the Other is all

that the Self rejects: passivity,

voicelessness, and powerlessness.

De Beauvoir is also concerned

with the way that women are

judged to be equal only insofar as

they are like men. Even those who

Man is defined as

a human being and

woman as a female.

Most of those who have

written about human

nature have been men.

Men have taken maleness

as the standard against

which they judge

human nature.

Men have defined

women by how they

differ from this standard.