Beauvoir’s concept of transcendence developed independently from Sartre’s, not from borrowing

Evidence

Scholars of twentieth-century French existentialism have traditionally assumed that Simone de Beauvoir borrows her concept of transcendence from the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre. In this chapter, I work to demonstrate that Beauvoir develops her concept of transcendence independently of Sartre, with the result that the two have diff erent notions of transcendence. In her early ethical treatise Pyrrhus and Cinéas, Beauvoir creates a sense of transcendence as constructive activity in the world, arguing that only transcendence can provide meaning for human existence. Not only does her concept of transcendence diff er signifi cantly from Sartre’s metaphysical concept of transcendence in Being and Nothingness, but Beauvoir also develops this concept of transcendence with reference to a host of writers in Western literature and philosophy— including Hegel, Pascal, Horace, Valéry, Gide, and Epicurus— rather than with reference to Sartre. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 576

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader Beauvoir-Sartre authorship debate, where scholars have revisited whether Beauvoir was a mere follower or co-equal philosophical partner. — connects to: The transcendence-immanence polarity is Beauvoir’s distinctive conceptual contribution — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 537; Beauvoir’s concept of transcendence evolves from Sartre’s metaphysics toward an active Hegelian sense — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 591; Beauvoir’s transcendence concept is largely non-Sartrean, especially in The Second Sex — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 578

Broader Connections

• Beauvoir’s concept of transcendence evolves from Sartre’s metaphysics toward an active Hegelian sense #contradicts (0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 591
• Beauvoir’s transcendence concept is largely non-Sartrean, especially in The Second Sex #corroborates (0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 578