Beauvoir’s system-based definition of philosophy would exclude Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

Evidence

Beauvoir has claimed many times that the philosopher was Sartre and that she was merely a writer. For her, one was a philosopher only if one had elaborated a system. Th is seems to be quite a narrow defi nition indeed, given that it would exclude such great thinkers as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 34

Categorization

• DEFINE: Fixes Beauvoir’s restrictive definition of philosophy (system-building) and notes the irony that it excludes major existentialist figures.
• XREF: connects to: Nietzsche and Kierkegaard defined existence as choice, action and self-assertion; Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were deliberately provocative contrarian precursors to existentialism — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 56; Hegel and Kierkegaard together form the twin sources of existentialism — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 460 (+3 more)