Sartre’s philosophy is sexist despite its anti-essentialist framework
Evidence
In an article on Sartre’s sexist psychoanalysis, Margery Collins and Christine Pierce begin by stating that “Sartre’s view of human nature and relationships would seem, on the face of things, to preclude such sexist bias. Moreover, one suspects that the vigilance of Simone de Beauvoir might have prevented such a disaster.” Th e authors’ argument is that Sartre’s view of human beings wherein “existence precedes essence” precludes a sexist view of women, since such a view would require that women have an essence, that there is such a thing as an a priori and fi xed way of being a woman. However, the authors proceed to show that such sexism is present in Sartre’s theory and that “in both his philosophy and his literary works he associates a fi xed nature with the female” despite what they refer to as “the vigilance of Simone de Beauvoir.” — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 88
Categorization
- QUESTION: Why did ‘existence precedes essence’ not prevent Sartre from associating a fixed nature with women? Worth chasing the Collins-Pierce argument.
- DEFINE: Explains the ‘existence precedes essence’ principle and the logical claim that it should preclude essentialist views of women.
- XREF: connects to: Beauvoir influenced Sartre broadly but failed on the sexed nature of embodiment — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 88; Sartre’s asexual for-itself is covertly masculine in its transcendence — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 107; Sartre’s concept of the slimy encodes a gendered fear of feminine appropriation — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 133
Broader Connections
- Sartre’s asexual for-itself is covertly masculine in its transcendence
#corroborates(0.90) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 107 - Beauvoir influenced Sartre broadly but failed on the sexed nature of embodiment
#complicates(0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 88 - Sartre’s concept of the slimy encodes a gendered fear of feminine appropriation
#exemplifies(0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 133