Beauvoir deliberately concealed cases where she led Sartre intellectually

Evidence

Beauvoir was ahead of Sartre many times, but she oft en tried to cover this. Why she did it will probably remain an unsolved riddle. Of the “phallocentric view” (which regards Beauvoir as merely Sartre’s follower and lover-assistant), Margaret Simons has said: “Th is view fails to recognize the originality of Beauvoir’s insights and is thus unable to appreciate her considerable infl uence on Sartre’s development of a social philosophy of existentialism.” Th is is why many recent Beauvoir scholars (including some of our contributors below) put such an emphasis on the originality and depth of her philosophical contributions, thereby opposing the view that Beauvoir herself helped to reinforce with her many statements of her own status as a nonphilosopher, as a follower of Sartre, as “just a writer.” — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 42

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the historiographical debate over authorship/influence in the Beauvoir-Sartre relationship; also echoes the broader feminist critique of the phallocentric canon. — connects to: Beauvoir shaped Sartre’s fiction by pushing him toward plot and suspense — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 353; Beauvoir deliberately sought interlocutors who could challenge her thinking — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 362; The 1929 agrégation jury judged Beauvoir the more rigorous philosopher of the two — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 31 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Beauvoir concealed her philosophical work to hide Sartre’s borrowings from it. #expands (0.90) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 238