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Simone de Beauvoir ââ A Humanist Thinker
Series: - Value Inquiry Book Series, Volume: 279
- Studies in Existentialism, Hermeneutics, and Phenomenology, Volume: 279
- Value Inquiry Book Series Online, Volume: 279
This collection of humanist readings of Simone de Beauvoirâs work is a novel contribution to contemporary research on Beauvoir, and a defense of the importance of the humanities. It demonstrates the significance and value of humanistic research through the work of Beauvoir, and argues that the reception and influence of her works demonstrate the transformative potential of humanistic research.
Organized around three topics, each chapter ascertains Beauvoirâs relation to the humanities and the humanist tradition. The first group focuses on Beauvoirâs interdisciplinary methodology and critical thinking, the second on her ethics of freedom and the construction of values. The last section explores how Beauvoir uses literature as a laboratory for developing her ideas on human interaction. The chapters can be studied as independent essays, or read together as a whole.
Simone de BeauvoirâA Humanist Thinker reveals new and previously unexplored dimensions of Beauvoirâs work by exposing her as a significant and inspiring humanist thinker. This volume attests that Beauvoirâs works continue to offer conceptual tools and insights enabling readers to critically analyze their own situation. In todayâs world, where religious fanaticism and totalitarian ideologies are gaining ground, humanist values and humanistic research are more important than ever.
Organized around three topics, each chapter ascertains Beauvoirâs relation to the humanities and the humanist tradition. The first group focuses on Beauvoirâs interdisciplinary methodology and critical thinking, the second on her ethics of freedom and the construction of values. The last section explores how Beauvoir uses literature as a laboratory for developing her ideas on human interaction. The chapters can be studied as independent essays, or read together as a whole.
Simone de BeauvoirâA Humanist Thinker reveals new and previously unexplored dimensions of Beauvoirâs work by exposing her as a significant and inspiring humanist thinker. This volume attests that Beauvoirâs works continue to offer conceptual tools and insights enabling readers to critically analyze their own situation. In todayâs world, where religious fanaticism and totalitarian ideologies are gaining ground, humanist values and humanistic research are more important than ever.
TOVE PETTERSEN is Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo (UiO), Norway. She specializes in moral philosophy and ethics, especially in the ethics of care and the existential ethics of Simone de Beauvoir. She received her Doctor Artium (equivalent to PhD) in philosophy from the University of Oslo, Norway (UiO), in 2004, with a dissertation on the ethics of care. She completed her Candidatus Philologiae (equivalent to MA) in the history of ideas on postmodern philosophy, and has also studied economics and holds a Candidata Magisteri (equivalent BA) in political science. In 2004â2006, Pettersen was granted a Postdoctoral Fellowship to work on Simone de Beauvoirâs ethics. She has also been the Director of Research at the Ethics Programme, UiO, and has been teaching philosophy at UiO since 1990. In 2012, Pettersen recived a Norwgian awardâPÃ¥ Kanten-prisenâfor her work in feminist philosophy. Her publications include âConceptions of Care: Altruism, Feminism, and Mature Careâ (2012), âThe Ethics of Care: Normative Structures and Empirical Implications (2011), Filosofiens annet kjønn (Philosophyâs second sex) (2011), âActing for Others: Moral Ontology in Simone de Beauvoirâs Pyrrhus and Cinéasâ (2010), Comprehending Care. Problems and Possibilities in The Ethics of Care (2008) and âFreedom and Feminism in Simone de Beauvoirâs Philosophyâ (2008). Pettersen has written the introduction to the Norwegian translation of Phyrrhus and Cinéas and The Ethics of Ambiguity (2009), and her articles have been translated into French and Italian.
ANNLAUG BJÃRSNÃS is Professor of French Literature in the Department of Language and Literature at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway, where she has also served for eight years as Vice Dean for Education. Her areas of specialization include surreal- ism, existentialism, and the works of Simone de Beauvoir. Her doctoral thesis, on French surrealism, focusing on the poetic works of Joyce Mansour, was published in 1998. She has published several articles on Beauvoirâs literary and philosophical writings. Besides the feminist perspectives, which Beauvoir and Mansour have in common, the topic of identity construction, from a textual-historical perspective, has been a major area of her research activity. She has also participated in the eighteenth-century research network established by her department and has explored âindividuality in literature,â with particular reference to the fictional works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She started working on Paul Ricoeur some years ago, paying special attention to the relevance of his philosophy to the study of literature.
ANNLAUG BJÃRSNÃS is Professor of French Literature in the Department of Language and Literature at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway, where she has also served for eight years as Vice Dean for Education. Her areas of specialization include surreal- ism, existentialism, and the works of Simone de Beauvoir. Her doctoral thesis, on French surrealism, focusing on the poetic works of Joyce Mansour, was published in 1998. She has published several articles on Beauvoirâs literary and philosophical writings. Besides the feminist perspectives, which Beauvoir and Mansour have in common, the topic of identity construction, from a textual-historical perspective, has been a major area of her research activity. She has also participated in the eighteenth-century research network established by her department and has explored âindividuality in literature,â with particular reference to the fictional works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She started working on Paul Ricoeur some years ago, paying special attention to the relevance of his philosophy to the study of literature.
"Rather than dispute Beauvoir's claim that she was an author rather than a philosopher, the ten essays Pettersen (Univ. of Oslo, Norway) and Bjørsnøs (Norwegian Univ. of Science and Technology) have collected variously contend that Beauvoirâs work effectively blurs the boundary between literature and philosophy. Four of the essays deal specifically with philosophical themes Beauvoir explores in fiction (in particular in Les Belles images, Les Mandarins, Pyrrhus et Cineas, and Tous les hommes sont mortels); the other essays take up various aspects of her interdisciplinary approach in exploring philosophical questions. Among the more interesting contributions are Stève Bessac-Vaureâs account of Beauvoirâs influence as editor of Les Temps modernes, Erika Ruonakoskiâs critique of the attempt to combine existential phenomenology and psychoanalysis in Le Deuxième sexe, and especially Pettersenâs extended discussion of Beauvoirâs concept of moral freedom. For the most part the essays are accessible to a broad range of readers, but the book will be of particular interest to those seeking to link Beauvoirâs philosophical and literary endeavors."
Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.
CHOICE - October 2015
Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.
CHOICE - October 2015
MARK LETTERI: EDITORIAL FOREWORD
MARGARET A. SIMONS: GUEST FOREWORD
PREFACE
TOVE PETTERSEN AND ANNLAUG BJÃRSNÃS: INTRODUCTION
Part One: CRITICAL THINKING AND METHODOLOGY
CHRISTINE DAIGLE: Making the Humanities Meaningful: Beauvoirâs Philosophy and Literature of the Appeal
LOUISE RENÃE: Existential Awakening in Simone de Beauvoirâs Les belles images
ERIKA RUONAKOSKI : Interdisciplinarity in The Second Sex: Between Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis
STÃVE BESSAC-VAURE: Simone de Beauvoir as Mediator for Foreign Literature in Les Temps Modernes
Part Two: FREEDOM, DEPENDENCE, AND AMBIGUITY
TOVE PETTERSEN: FIVE Existential Humanism and Moral Freedom in Simone de Beauvoirâs Ethics
SAMANTHA BANKSTON: Becoming-Ambiguous: Beauvoir, Deleuze, and the Future of the Humanities
GWENDOLYN DOLSKE: Embodiment and Contemplation of Death: A Beauvoirian Analysis
Part Three: LITERATURE AS LABORATORY
JULIANA DE ALBUQUERQUE KATZ: The Relevance of Simone de Beauvoirâs Ethic/Aesthetic Project to the Humanities
ANNLAUG BJÃRSNÃS: Representing Time: On the Experience of Temporality in The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
BARBARA KLAW: The Relevance of Woolfâs Orlando and Beauvoirâs Tous les hommes sont mortels
WORKS CITED
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
NAME INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX
MARGARET A. SIMONS: GUEST FOREWORD
PREFACE
TOVE PETTERSEN AND ANNLAUG BJÃRSNÃS: INTRODUCTION
Part One: CRITICAL THINKING AND METHODOLOGY
CHRISTINE DAIGLE: Making the Humanities Meaningful: Beauvoirâs Philosophy and Literature of the Appeal
LOUISE RENÃE: Existential Awakening in Simone de Beauvoirâs Les belles images
ERIKA RUONAKOSKI : Interdisciplinarity in The Second Sex: Between Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis
STÃVE BESSAC-VAURE: Simone de Beauvoir as Mediator for Foreign Literature in Les Temps Modernes
Part Two: FREEDOM, DEPENDENCE, AND AMBIGUITY
TOVE PETTERSEN: FIVE Existential Humanism and Moral Freedom in Simone de Beauvoirâs Ethics
SAMANTHA BANKSTON: Becoming-Ambiguous: Beauvoir, Deleuze, and the Future of the Humanities
GWENDOLYN DOLSKE: Embodiment and Contemplation of Death: A Beauvoirian Analysis
Part Three: LITERATURE AS LABORATORY
JULIANA DE ALBUQUERQUE KATZ: The Relevance of Simone de Beauvoirâs Ethic/Aesthetic Project to the Humanities
ANNLAUG BJÃRSNÃS: Representing Time: On the Experience of Temporality in The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir
BARBARA KLAW: The Relevance of Woolfâs Orlando and Beauvoirâs Tous les hommes sont mortels
WORKS CITED
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
NAME INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX