The Genealogy of the Concept of Situation in Simone de Beauvoir, 1940-49: History, Oppression, and Sexual Difference

The main objective of this thesis is to reconstruct the non-linear but rather genealogical development of Simone de Beauvoir’s concept of “situation” in her works from 1940 to the publication of The Second Sex in 1949. The starting point of this thesis is the belief that situation, which grounds Beauvoir’s perspective to comprehend the complex relationship between the objective and the subjective dimensions of existence, plays a key role in her feminist political thought because of the way it relates to history, oppression, and sexual difference. Proceeding from this assumption, this dissertation outlines an original framework to comprehend how Beauvoir’s perspective became more and more political through the 1940s. In doing so, it aims to contribute to the ongoing reflection on the value of Beauvoir’s situation for contemporary feminist theory.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Ceschi, Anna

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tomaselli, Sylvana

• Simone de Beauvoir
• Concept of Situation
• Political Thought and Philosophy
• Existentialism
• Marxism
• Feminism

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/e28cf0b2-7f13-4f46-a819-f441ff1f4118/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.118145

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/383978