Human society is a historical reality that appropriates nature rather than submitting to it

Evidence

The theory of historical materialism has brought to light some very important truths. Humanity is not an animal species: it is a historical reality. Human society is an anti-physis: it does not passively submit to the presence of nature, but rather appropriates it. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 142

Categorization

• DEFINE: Beauvoir’s core definition of society as ‘anti-physis’ — the foundational Marxist-existentialist frame she builds from.
• XREF: This is Beauvoir’s bridge between Sartrean existentialism and Marx’s historical materialism; connects to the earlier biological-determinism critique. — connects to: Realism is a form of paranoia that dehumanizes both nature and peoples — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 153; Biology dictates no eternal sexual hostility because humanity is historical becoming, not mere species. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1965; Nature’s qualities are historical, not fixed, under human mastery — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 825 (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Human nature is the totality of historically determined social relations, not a fixed essence. #expands (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 617
• Humans are constituted by their social relations rather than an intrinsic essence #expands (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2517
• Human culture originates in the socially mediated relation between man and nature #expands (0.85)
• The Rights of Man were grounded in a supposed human nature rather than history #complicates (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 728
• Humanity has replaced nature and history as the ground of human rights #corroborates (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 729
• Historical materialism is fundamentally historicist, not metaphysical #corroborates (0.80)
• Social and cultural structures overdetermine our natural human constitution. #expands (0.75)
• People’s supposed deficiencies are historical facts, not natural traits #exemplifies (0.75)
• Woman is a historical situation, not an immutable essence #exemplifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 675