The Ethics of Ambiguity

From the groundbreaking author of The Second Sex comes a radical argument for ethical responsibility and freedom. In this classic introduction to existentialist thought, French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity simultaneously pays homage to and grapples with her contemporaries Jean‑Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau‑Ponty, arguing that the freedoms in existentialism carry with them ethical responsibilities. De Beauvoir outlines a series of “ways of being” — the adventurer, the passionate person, the lover, the artist, and the intellectual — each of which overcomes the former’s deficiencies and can therefore live up to the responsibilities of freedom. Ultimately, de Beauvoir argues that to achieve true freedom one must oppose those who suppress it. The Ethics of Ambiguity launched Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist and existential philosophy and remains a concise yet thorough examination of existence and what it means to be human.