Humanity’s defining project is self-surpassing, not mere survival

Evidence

The reason for this is that humanity is not a simple natural species: it does not seek to survive as a species; its project is not stagnation: it seeks to surpass itself. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 153

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines humanity as transcendence — the standard against which woman’s immanence is measured.
• XREF: Echoes Nietzsche’s self-overcoming and Hegel’s self-realization; situates Beauvoir in the Continental tradition the reader wants grounding in. — connects to: The fundamental project is the for-itself’s choice of its own being-in-the-world. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1107; All human projects aim at becoming God through self-causation — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1445; Humanity’s defining project is escaping its entrapment by species destiny (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Humanity’s defining project is escaping its entrapment by species destiny #corroborates (0.92)
• The two projects differ in humanity’s teleology, not self-construction #expands (0.80)
• Human beings are processes of their own actions, not fixed essences #expands (0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1256
• Human beings create their own essence through action rather than inheriting a fixed nature #expands (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 27