ipl-logo

Analysis Of Simone De Beauvoir's Ethics Of Ambiguity

577 Words3 Pages

In Simone De Beauvoir 's Ethics of Ambiguity, she identifies a series of characters in an attempt to make themes easier for the reader to understand through their personification. These consist of the sub-man, serious man, nihilist, adventurer and the passionate man. Each of these characters overcome and surpass the former 's deficiencies, and therefore can live up to the responsibilities of freedom. Let us further evaluate the ideas of ethical freedom as explained by Beauvoir. According to Beauvoir, happiness, unhappiness, and the search for meaning in life is based upon shared experiences of the human condition as a child. She suggests that people are born into the world protected from the harsh anxieties of existence and freedom. These …show more content…

First, one must assume his own subjectivity (Ethics 2:41-42). In other words, one must realize his or her own place in life and come to terms with their individual being. There are, however, some flaws in the assuming of one 's own subjectivity. These flaws could be the desire of one to obtain more being or increasing the value of one 's being. It is tempting for one to try and obtain more being, however, Beauvoir notes this as living inauthentic. The reason behind this is because one cannot obtain any more being than they already possess. It is also important to realize that being cannot be equated with happiness. One cannot increase happiness by increasing the value of one’s being because it is impossible to increase the value of one 's being in the first place. So, the challenge of assuming one 's own subjectivity is letting go of the desire to be and accepting that you just are. In other words, finding an acceptance and embracing who you are and being satisfied with who you are. The second component of obtaining ethical freedom is the realization that one must work towards the freedom of humankind. This is realizing that individuals exist in relation to one another, and the existence of others justifies the existence of us as individuals (Ethics 2:71-72). Because we are connected in this way, to be free, one must accept and understand that others should also

Show More
Related

  • The Theme Of Redemption In Ta-Neshi Coates The Water Dancer

    784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Therefore, for someone to be free, they must be able to use their desires to guide them in their life without anything

    Read More

  • 12 Years A Slave Dbq Essay

    833 Words  | 4 Pages

    One’s view toward happiness is not always limited to one point-of-view for the rest of their life. Gretchen Reynolds’ article In the New York Times Magazine does support the idea that people personalities are shaped by inborn qualities, however does not bring into account the individual decisions people may have later in

    Read More

  • Self Reliant In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

    753 Words  | 4 Pages

    So what does it exactly mean to be self

    Read More

  • The Pursuit Of Happiness In Fahrenheit 451

    1367 Words  | 6 Pages

    The pursuit of happiness is defined as “the fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy.” The ability to find happiness is a right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States, yet many countries do not possess the same rights as America and instead are plagued by corruption. Procuring contentment is a difficult journey for all people, but those who do not have access to knowledge will find it to be a much more daunting task. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s struggle to find joy under an oppressive regime required him to challenge his knowledge in a way he never truly had before. Happiness is analyzed constantly in the real world as well, and the philosophers and scientists who study it consistently link it to knowledge, as shown in the articles by Main, Socrates and in the article about Individualism.

    Read More

  • Interpersonal Communication Chapter Summary

    828 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chapter two in the textbook Reflect & Relate an Introduction to Interpersonal Communication by Steven McCornack talks all about what “self” is and how to achieve complete fulfillment for one’s self which is also known as self-actualization. The components of self, as described in the book are, “ . . . self-awareness, self-concept, and self-esteem” (McCornack 39). Self-awareness is the idea in which one can take a moment to move feelings, beliefs, and other external influences aside and just evaluate oneself in a holistic perspective that is not skewed by opinions of others, etc. Having the ability to actually think about who one is brings a lot of power and mental stability in such a way that allows for improvement.

    Read More

  • Egoism In Hamlet

    224 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the most notable quote “to thine own self be true”, maybe one of the ways people describe putting self-first in life. An egoist would agree with this line of thinking because egoism is theory that “thine own self” is the motivation in all actions. There are two types of positions in egoism, psychological egoism, or descriptive, and ethical egoism, or normative. Psychological egoism is the idea that we always act in self-interest because it is human nature and ultimately care more about ourselves than others. For example, a person whom donates to charity, and sees their name in a monthly newsletter, is not donating just because but more of the satisfaction in seeing their name in the monthly newsletter.

    Read More

  • Karen Armstrong Void Analysis

    1011 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thurman wrote, “‘Realizing your selflessness’ does not mean that you become a nobody, it means that you became the type of somebody who is a viable, useful somebody, not a frigid fixated, I’m-the-center-of-the-universe, isolated-from-others somebody. You become the type of somebody who is over the idea of a conceptually fixated and self-created ‘self,’ a pseudo-self. You become the type of somebody who is content never to be quite that sure of who you are always free to be someone new, somebody more” (Thurman 443). In order for one to become aware of oneself, one must first realize that he or she is just one other person that the universe will not stop over. Once this is realized, a person may finally feel “complete”, which is the concept behind being.

    Read More

  • Happiness In A Thousand Splendid Suns

    702 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Khaled Hosseini’s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Hosseini suggests that the factors outside of our control often significantly impact our potential to achieve a sense of happiness in life. This is first seen with Mariam in part 1 of the novel. Mariam’s wants to go to Jalil’s cinema with him, but when the time comes Jalil doesn’t show.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Self-Reliance In Anthem By Ayn Rand

    630 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through accepting oneself, people can discover more about the person they

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mark Manson's Article Stop Trying To Be Happy

    150 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article “Stop Trying to be Happy,” Mark Manson states that nowadays, people are striving so hard to be happy, while happiness is something in their self. However, most of them do not realize that when they do something they like, that is not a happiness, it just a pleasure. The problem why people are unhappy is, they always do something on other people expectations, not struggle to reach their expectation. Moreover, negative emotion is important to release unnecessary thing in our self, it keeps a happiness steady. Most people, always do something that is hard for themselves, but they keep try to do it, even they are fail.

    Read More

  • Utilitarianism In Brave New World

    733 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freedom is more simply explained. It can be defined as one 's ability to dictate one 's own actions. In the book, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, individual freedom has been sacrificed the purpose of a supposedly secure and happy society. The world is controlled by an all-powerful state which is dominated by the study and practice of selective breeding.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Happiness In Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451

    941 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lack of Happiness in Farenheight 451 Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people all around the world. In America, happiness has been an important idea in people’s minds since Thomas Jefferson wrote these words in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since Jefferson wrote those famous words in the Constitutution Americans have been focused on the idea of pursuing happiness. Happiness seems to be the ultimate goal in our society.

    Read More

  • What Happiness Is Eduardo Porter Summary

    130 Words  | 1 Pages

    What Happiness Is In the essay “What Happiness Is,” Eduardo Porter states that happiness is a slippery concept. He believes that happiness doesn’t have a specific definition, it means different things to each person. In the essay happiness is broken down into 3 parts: satisfaction, positive feelings, and the absence of negative feelings. Porter says that most people think that money and economic stability will bring them happiness and because of that they will push themselves to do better at their jobs.

    Read More

  • Can Money Buy Happiness Rhetorical Analysis

    680 Words  | 3 Pages

    People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the

    Read More

  • Personal Essay: The Definition Of True Happiness

    1224 Words  | 5 Pages

    A collection of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches had attempted to define happiness and analyze its connections. Researchers have found that about 50% of people happiness depends on our genes, based on studies of identical twins, whose happiness was 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses. About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of intentional factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. Studies have also found that most of us are born with a fixed “set point” of happiness that we fall in throughout our lives.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Simone De Beauvoir's Ethics Of Ambiguity

Open Document