Seminar Notes

Overview

Existentialism and feminism; Second Sex/woman as 'other - 'made, not born'

Gender

Why are there relatively few female philosophers? What are the possible (or actual) repercussions of this?

Is there something masculine about Existentialism?

On his module, how are the women represented in the novels?

Role of Others

Ambiguity (material from de Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity)

Embrace of these paradoxes?

Narrative viewpoint - narrating self?

The Novel

p.108 'People are free...' to 'I could not resign myself to this'.

p.119 ''It was murder...' to p. 121 (tt)

Why can't he act?

p.189 'I'm counting on these reprisals...' to end. How does this embrace ambiguity? Comparison with his past?

How is it possible not to affect the lives of others?

Links

Online version of Ethics of Ambiguity - click here

BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour: 'Simone de Beauvoir' (TX 22 Jan 08) - click here