Zugl.: Heidelberg, Universiẗat, Diss., 1983. / Als Ms. gedr.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Simone de Beauvoir is known as a prolific novelist, a passionate political activist for the women's movement, and the long-time companion to the existential philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre. Her ideas as a philosopher, however, are often overshadowed by these alternate identities. The aim of this thesis is to reaffirm the value of de Beauvoir's philosophical contributions, in particular, those which pertain to moral philosophy.</p> <p>In order to achieve this, I will first attempt to distinguish de Beauvoir's philosophy from that of Sartre. From a moral standpoint, de Beauvoir presents a more explicitly moral version of existentialism, one which takes as its focus the self-other tension left unresolved in Sartrean ontology. Second, and more importantly, I will discuss the broad scope of de Beauvoir's moral theory. Her own application of this theory to the situation of women may be complimented by possible applications to racial, environmental and other moral issues.</p> <p>Perhaps the most significant contribution of this particular thesis lies in its methodological approach. Although studies of de Beauvoir's thought are numerous, those which deal exclusively with her philosophical works are rare. As a corrective to this, this thesis is based exclusively on examinations of de Beauvoir's philosophical works. This should not be interpreted as a rejection of de Beauvoir's contributions to existentialism and to moral philosophy through literature and autobiography. Instead, this thesis should be viewed as giving proper credit to her philosophical works as being worthy of examination on their own.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Happiness is often considered our ultimate goal in life. This essay explores the political im- plications of this view, through the critique of happiness found in the works of Simone de Beauvoir and Sara Ahmed. Ahmed and Beauvoir consider happiness to be harmful as a po- litical goal, since it tends to diminish dimensions of power and conflict in favor of harmony, and is not compatible with a political philosophy based on freedom or liberation. Happiness is often confused with the ethical Good, but this essay argues that happiness does not ne- cessarily entail good things. Indeed, happiness can be used to justify oppression and unjust political systems.

In her philosophical writings, Simone de Beauvoir argues our existence is defined by an inability to possess an objective understanding of our being. This fundamental ambiguity turns us towards a process of having-to-be – a series of attempts to define who we wish to become and the world we wish to establish. Through a reading of Beauvoir's novel, The Mandarins, I produce an outline of the political subject and a philosophy of political- ethical action that properly navigates this ambiguity. By committing to utopian political projects that aim at universalizing the conditions for collective self-emancipation, the political subject engages in political-ethical action that is a total manifestation of having- to-be at the same time as being.

In her philosophical writings, Simone de Beauvoir argues our existence is defined by an inability to possess an objective understanding of our being. This fundamental ambiguity turns us towards a process of having-to-be – a series of attempts to define who we wish to become and the world we wish to establish. Through a reading of Beauvoir's novel, The Mandarins, I produce an outline of the political subject and a philosophy of political- ethical action that properly navigates this ambiguity. By committing to utopian political projects that aim at universalizing the conditions for collective self-emancipation, the political subject engages in political-ethical action that is a total manifestation of having- to-be at the same time as being.

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This comparative analysis is based on Nelly Alards novel Moment d’un couple from 2013 and its source of inspiration being La femme rompue of Simone de Beauvoir. These novels do both demonstrate marriage as a constitution and what happens to it when an infidelity takes place. This is thus a feminist analysis of the reaction and presentation of the betrayed woman and her way of coping with this new found situation she founds herself in. Alards narrative voice makes continuous reference to beauvoirian feminism. Beauvoir’s féminist theory is hence essential for this study as well as our source for theoretical framework as we aim to conduct an analysis using her elaborated terminology as a pivotal factor. Her conception of « The Other » is central for feminist theory as it focuses on the given female role in a patriarchal society. It is hence of relevance that Beauvoir published a novel by which that of Alard is said to be inspired. Whereas Beauvoir presents a character who herself normalises infidelity, and finds herself in second place, Alard presents a modern and more independent character. The crucial contrast is presented through Beauvoir’s normalisation of infidelity and Alard’s normalisation of violence against women.

Depuis la Révolution française où émerge le féminisme moderne, plus de deux siècles se sont écoulés, et la condition féminine a profondément changé à l’échelle mondiale. On distingue trois générations de femmes : universaliste, différentialiste et postmoderniste, qui se superposent. Le présent travail vise à étudier les deux premières générations de femmes en France et en Chine dans la période contemporaine, ainsi que les représentations littéraires du féminisme dans les deux cultures. Cette thèse est à la fois une étude des parallèles littéraires et une étude des influences. En confrontant les littératures et les théories féministes françaises et chinoises, nous tenterons d’examiner si elles soulèvent les mêmes questions, quels sont les apports de chaque génération, ainsi que les difficultés qu’elles ont rencontrées, et quels sont les invariants de chacune des deux générations féminines qui ont œuvré quasiment dans un même temps, mais dans deux espaces différents, voire séparés. De surcroît, une étude des influences permet de prendre la mesure de la réception des littératures et des théories féministes françaises en Chine. / Since the French Revolution, which foreshadows modern feminism, more than two centuries have passed, women’s status has changed profoundly on a world scale. We distinguish three generations of women: universalist, differentialist and postmodernist. The present work aims to study the first two generations of women in France and China in contemporary times, as well as the literary representations of feminism in both cultures. This thesis studies the literary parallels and the influences. By confronting French and Chinese feminist literatures and theories, we will try to examine if they raise the same questions: what are the contributions and the difficulties of each generation, and what are the invariants of each of the two female generations which took place almost at the same time, but in two different spaces. In addition, a study of influences reveals the reception of French feminist literatures and theories in China.

Ce travail a pour objectif l’étude de l’émergence du sujet dans le récit autobiographique. Notre corpus est formé de trois œuvres de Simone de Beauvoir qui appartiennent au genre autobiographique. Pour l’étude du « sujet », nous nous proposons de rester fidèle à l’approche sémiotique de l’énonciation et à l’approche de la sémiotique narrative-discursive. Selon l’approche sémiotique de l’énonciation, le sujet émerge en deux niveaux : le niveau de l’énonciation principale dite énonçant aussi et le niveau de l’énoncé énoncé. Dans le niveau de l’énonciation principale, nous définissons le sujet « énonçant » comme « énonciateur ». Pour ce niveau, nous visons à faire une étude sur la relation entre l’énonciateur et l’énonciataire et sur la relation entre l’énonciateur et le sujet de l’énoncé dite « acteur ». Dans le niveau de l’énoncé énoncé, nous nous proposons d’étudier la disposition figurative de l’acteur autour de quelques thèmes. Les analyses faites à la lumière de l’approche sémiotique narrative-discursive nous permettront de définir la structure énonciative de notre corpus et la disposition figurative du sujet de l’énonciation et de l’énoncé. / This work aims to analyze the process of emergence of the subject in the autobiographical discourse. Our corpus is composed of three books of Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer and intellectual of the 20th century. We propose to apply the methods that defined by the scientific approaches called semiotics of the enunciation and literary semiotics. According to the approach of enunciation, the subject emerges in two levels: the level of main enunciation and the level of utterance. On the level of main enunciation, the subject of enunciation is defined as enunciator. The analysis that we will make on this level is based on the relations between enunciator and enunciated and on the relations between enunciator and the subject of utterance also called as the actor. On the level of utterance, by the light of literary semiotics, we will study within the framework of some themes, the figural roles that assumed by the actor. Theses analysis leaded by the semiotic approach of enunciation and the literary semiotics will allow us to define the narrative levels’ structure of autobiographical discourse and the roles and functions of the subjects who emerges on those levels.