Beauvoir held that human ambiguity is constitutive, not a problem to solve

Evidence

Beauvoir seemed more sensitive than Sartre was to these subtle interzones in human life. The Second Sex was almost entirely occupied with the complex territory where free choice, biology and social and cultural factors meet and mingle to create a human being who gradually becomes set in her ways as life goes on. Moreover, she had explored this territory more directly in a short treatise of 1947, The Ethics of Ambiguity. There, she argued that the question of the relationship between our physical constraints and the assertion of our freedom is not a ‘problem’ requiring a solution. It is simply the way human beings are. Our condition is to be ambiguous to the core, and our task is to learn to manage the movement and uncertainty in our existence, not to banish it. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 718

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Beauvoir’s core notion of ambiguity as the human condition itself, not a deficiency requiring a solution.
• XREF: Connects to the later notion of ‘situation’ in feminist and postcolonial theory — the intersection of choice and given constraints. — connects to: Beauvoir holds that Other-encounter need not end in conflict but can achieve authentic ambiguity. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 114; Beauvoir rejects conflict as the paradigmatic model of human relationships — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 656; Beauvoir’s threefold ambiguity defines the human as immanent-transcendent, free-yet-unmade, and conflicted-with-yet-requiring the Other. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 112 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Beauvoir holds that Other-encounter need not end in conflict but can achieve authentic ambiguity. #expands (0.92) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 114
• Beauvoir rejects conflict as the paradigmatic model of human relationships #exemplifies (0.90) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 656
• Beauvoir’s threefold ambiguity defines the human as immanent-transcendent, free-yet-unmade, and conflicted-with-yet-requiring the Other. #expands (0.88) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 112