The Ethics Of Ambiguity

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 1947

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part I

Part II

Part III

Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Schools of Philosophical Thought

Philosophy is a dialectic tradition and, abiding by that tradition, The Ethics of Ambiguity puts itself in conversation with a range of other philosophical schools of thought.

A critique of the German idealist philosopher Hegel runs throughout the text. Though Hegel is just one of the philosophers she addresses (Kant, Marx, Descartes, and Sartre are addressed, too), Hegel is discussed frequently because his ideas seem to most directly contradict de Beauvoir’s. Essentially, Hegel believes in absolutist values, which is in stark contrast to the ambiguous truths embraced by the existentialists. Hegel’s philosophy then, in pursuit of an absolute ideal, would justify the sacrifice of innumerable individuals to achieve this goal. De Beauvoir, on the other hand, is relentless in her insistence that oppression and tyranny must be avoided at all costs.

History as Pedagogical Example

Throughout the text, de Beauvoir uses real-world historical events to illustrate various philosophical principles. She mentions Stalingrad, the site of a major World War II battle in Russia, as well as Buchenwald, the location of a concentration camp in Germany. World War II references abound, supporting the book’s larger themes. While the bulk of the historical examples are from World War II, de Beauvoir also makes mention of America’s enslavement of African-Americans, as well as the subordination of women worldwide:

The southern planters were not altogether in the wrong in considering the negroes who docilely submitted to their paternalism as ‘grown-up children’ to the extent that they respected the world of the whites…[t]his is also the situation of women in many civilizations; they can only submit to the laws, the gods, the customs, and the truths created by the males(40).

As pedagogical example, historical events are particularly useful to de Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity since one of her primary aims is to show that there is a real-world, practical application of existentialist philosophy.

Metaphor as Pedagogical Example

Participating in a philosophical tradition extending back to Plato’s Cave, de Beauvoir uses metaphor to illustrate various concepts in The Ethics of Ambiguity. Poetic prose and vivid imagery bring to life the abstractions of freedom, ambiguity, and oppression.

De Beauvoir uses a wide range of metaphors throughout the text. The imagery ranges from the natural world—“the resistance of the thing sustains the action of man as air sustains the flight of the dove” (87)—to the mechanical: “they are masters of the atomic bomb, yet it is created only to destroy them” (7).

In the following example, de Beauvoir uses the metaphor of a bad painter to show the plight of the sub-man:

Just as a bad painter, by a single movement, paints bad paintings and is satisfied with them, whereas in a work of value the artist immediately recognizes the demand of a higher sort of work, in like fashion the original poverty of his project exempts the sub-man from seeking to legitimize it(46).

Metaphor not only aids de Beauvoir in making her arguments, it also contributes to the overall richness of the text.