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5 | Beauvoir: Existentialism and Liberation (Patreon)

Published:
2021-01-15 07:01:00
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

In this episode, we talk about Simone de Beauvoir's masterful book The Ethics of Ambiguity. We spend some time with her typology of inadequate ethical positions, focusing on the subhuman, the serious person, and the nihilist, and discuss what it means to say that freedom is only possible as a liberatory movement. Oh and we make fun of the abstract negation of revolt, the absolute value of the Target corporation, and Ayn Rand's 'epistemology'.

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References:

Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, trans. Bernard Frechtman (New York: Open Road, 2018)

Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, trans. Carol Macomber, ed. John Kulka (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007)

Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew, trans. George J. Becker (New York: Schocken Books, 1976)

Wolfgang Streeck, How Will Capitalism End? Essays on a Failing System (New York: Verso, 2017)

Music: Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

Files

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Comments

Nic Johnson

Working my way through the back catalog, this one was amazing and well worth the $5 Patreon fee. Now I really want a Jameson *Political Unconscious* episode

Nic Johnson
>>124762788

(The connection being that he’s a Sartre fanboy, and his question in the Intro being “how to get a concept of History which is not absolute,” parallel to the q of how DeBeauvoir gets a concept of freedom which isn’t unconditional, and both finding an answer in the genre of tragedy)

Stephen Dozeman

A million thoughts on this episode, but mostly just glad I'm not the only person out there who's still into existentialism. Seriously looking forward to the discussion of the CDR. PS: I've read/written on Rand in the past. Seriously awful writer but some super interesting stuff going on her work if you wanna understand certain cultural trends (my big hint is to say The Fountainhead and Maslow's essay on the Hierarchy of Needs were both published in the same year)

Alex Heffron

Really loved this episode. Clarified a lot for me and given lots to go away and think about. I'm writing an undergrad paper on Existentialism right now so this was very helpful! Also very relevant to the (bleak, bleak, bleak) news in the UK this week. A triple whammy with the passing of the police bill (basically gives police complete immunity, attacks GRT communities, and makes protest basically illegal), the new immigration plans (camps in far off places and illegal for lifeguards to save a drowning refugee, for example) and "freedom day" whereby in two week's time, in England at least, they're going to remove all covid restrictions and get everyone back to work as before, apparently. Despite the fact there'll be a 100,000 new cases everyday. Having recently just recovered from 15 months of long covid, it's a bit terrifying! Loved the closing discussions around freedom with, and the reality of confronting those that want to oppress/deny freedom of others and the passage from de Beauvoir: “To be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future; the existence of others as a freedom defines my situation and is even the condition of my own freedom.” This ties in really nice with the Taiwo discussion around "collaborative security". I do think the left needs to work on building an effective response to the right around freedom/security. The right libertarians particularly get under my skin, so this episode helps me a lot! Thanks again for these great pods!