Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir

Since her death in 1986 and the publication of her letters and diaries in 1990, interest in the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir has never been greater. In this engaging and timely volume, Margaret A. Simons and an international group of philosophers present 16 essays that reveal Beauvoir as one of the century's most important and influential thinkers. As they set Beauvoir's work into dialogue with Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Foucault, Levinas, and others, these essays consider questions such as Beauvoir's philosophical relationship with Sartre; her ethic of the erotic; her views on marriage, motherhood, and female friendship; and her interpretations of oppression and liberation. This book discusses the full range of Beauvoir's work, including The Second Sex, her unpublished diaries, autobiographical writings, novels, and philosophical essays, and broadens the scope and interpretive context of her unique philosophy.Contributors are Nancy Bauer, Debra Bergoffen, Suzanne Laba Cataldi, Edward Fullbrook, Eva Gothlin, Sara Heinämaa, Laura Hengehold, Stacy Keltner, Michèle Le Doeuff, Ann Murphy, Shannon M. Mussett, Margaret A. Simons, Ursula Tidd, Andrea Veltman, Karen Vintges, Julie Ward, Gail Weiss.

. . . [an] international group of philosophers discusses all of Beauvoir's work, setting it in dialogue with other philosophers including Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, and Emmanuel Levinas, and covering a wide range of topics, including her ethic of the erotic; her views on marriage, mothers, and female friendships; and her interpretations of oppression and liberation. Vol. 23.1 (January-March 2008)

Margaret A. Simons is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. She is a founding editor of Hypatia and editor of a seven-volume English translation of Simone de Beauvoir's writings.