Life sustains itself only by surpassing itself, and both gametes share equal roles

Evidence

Thus, the ovum, active in the nucleus, its essential principle, is superficially passive; its mass, closed upon itself, compact in itself, evokes the nocturnal heaviness and repose of the in-itself: the ancients visualized the closed world in the form of a sphere or opaque atom; immobile, the ovum waits; by contrast, the open sperm, tiny and agile, embodies the impatience and worry of existence. … It is possible, however, to come away with a valuable indication from this meeting. There are two movements that come together in life, and life maintains itself only by surpassing itself. It does not surpass itself without maintaining itself; these two moments are always accomplished together. It is academic to claim to separate them: nevertheless, it is either one or the other that dominates. … The conclusion is thus that fundamentally the role of the two gametes is identical; together they create a living being in which both of them lose and surpass themselves. But in the secondary and superficial phenomena that condition fertilization, it is through the male element that the change in situation occurs for the new eclosion of life; it is through the female element that this eclosion is established in a stable element. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 87

Categorization

• XREF: The immanence/transcendence distinction maps on to Hegel’s master-slave dialectic and Sartre’s being-in-itself/being-for-itself, the Continental framework the reader is building. — connects to: Life and action are identical in nature as transcended transcendence; Life both requires and overflows every determinate form — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 828; A life that only maintains itself is indistinguishable from vegetation (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Introduces the core immanence/transcendence apparatus that grounds the whole argument — key definitional content for this reading.

Broader Connections

• A life that only maintains itself is indistinguishable from vegetation #corroborates (0.82)
• Life both requires and overflows every determinate form #expands (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 828
• Freedom exists only by being conquered from original spontaneous existence #corroborates (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 22