History is full of inspiring philosophers.
Many are men, but not many female philosophers aren’t shown in history books. For example, have you heard of Simone de Beauvoir?
She was born into a wealthy family but that doesn’t mean she didn’t care for justice back in the day.
She went to the University of Paris in 1928 to study political philosophy and started thinking about social issues more and more. But in a different way than most did.
“One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion.” — Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
Freedom is Something to Cherish, Always
“All oppression creates a state of war. And this is no exception.”
We see it right now.
People, all around the world, are being oppressed. (Iran, Ukraine, etc…)
Our freedom isn’t for granted. As Beauvoir states, it always comes hand in hand with war. The 2nd World War gave the Nazis the opportunity to oppress the Jews and eventually kill almost 6 million of them.
Freedom is relative.
We need to fight for it, defend it and make it better. The freedom of 50 years ago isn’t the same one as we hold now.
Almost every world leader tries to limit our freedoms. That’s a tale as old as time and won’t change.
Power corrupts.
People are being oppressed, whether it’s women, black people, Jews, Muslims, or any other group. And we need to constantly try to keep that freedom.
Not Everybody Can Be Free (For Themselves)
“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.”
I have noticed that not every person is able to experience freedom.
Even if they are (legally) truly free in their choices and doing, they still want to adhere to some kind of rule of life; which makes them unfree.
People that are living within the matrix.
If you feel like this is you, try to read this article about breaking social standards and doing what truly feels right to you.
We’re More Than Our Bodies
“The body is not a thing, it is a situation: it is our grasp on the world and our sketch of our project”
An interesting thought.
Our body is a temporary home that houses our project of life. Quite philosophical if you repeat that in your head.
If you think about that. We could be (our souls) put inside our body at birth and we have to use this as a temporary residence during our journey through the universe.
What if, when we die we leave our bodies to go to the next chapter of our story?
It’s getting too spiritual now…
It’s Getting Better. Eventually
“Every war, every revolution, demands the sacrifice of a generation, of a collectivity, by those who undertake it.”
War is the end of an era but also the beginning of something new.
But that means that it takes a sacrifice. It doesn’t come for free. Revolutions like the French Revolution are often with high costs. People die, the order is disrupted and people aren’t getting wealthier.
But after a while, things are getting better.
We’re at such a point right now. The past 20/30 years have been great, we’ve experienced economic prosperity and everything was possible if you worked hard enough for it.
Those times are over. Cheap money is gone and we’re at the start of a great economic recession. That’s not me talking about doom, it’s realism and it gives us the opportunity to build something new.
Do that.
“Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands — two equally harmful disciplines.”
The differences between boys and girls (men/women) are obvious but the thing de Beauvoir says here is so deep.
Because indeed, girls or women are often restricted to do certain things. (See oppression)
And boys or men are often expected to do certain things that are “typically male”.
Why do men always need to be manly? Isn’t that, just as she states, “equally harmful”?
That’s something that should be thought about a little more I think.