O amor e a inautenticidade feminina à luz do pensamento de Simone de Beauvoir

Abstract

This study has as its theme of reflection the love and the inauthenticity within the background of the female existential condition in the scenario opened by the work of Simone de Beauvoir. For this purpose, we will primarily use two essays from the philosopher, namely, The Ethics of Ambiguity and The Second Sex. The first chapter is dedicated to exploring the foundations of the existential thinking developed by Beauvoir in dialogue with Sartrean contributions, stemming from the notion of the nonexistence of a pre-determined human essence, as well as the relation in-itself, for-itself. After that, in the second chapter, we specifically delve into her classic work The Second Sex, seeking to delineate the female situation and the woman’s mystification through the eternal feminine. Among the main concepts of the discussion are the notions of transcendence and immanence and their articulation in the sexual division, namely, the idea that man is the transcendental being, while woman is the immanent one. Furthermore, in this same chapter, we expand a dialogue with F. J. J. Buytendijk, a reader of Beauvoir’s work, who presents some descriptions that significantly differ from hers regarding the woman’s condition. Finally, in the third chapter, the analysis of the female existential movement finds a synthesis between The Second Sex and The Ethics of Ambiguity allowing us to comprehend how the philosopher builds the notion of inauthentic existence. We elaborate on the role of love in the construction and maintenance of the female situation. The hypothesis of this work is that the myth of romantic love adds to the myth of the eternal feminine. Such a point is raised because this alliance is culturally widespread as a mechanism that idealizes unconditional, selfless, and submissive love to women. At last, we present the thesis that love plays a central role in female existence, possibly being constituted as a maintainer of oppression and inauthenticity when presented as the only way of constructing meaning in a woman's life.