Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a French existentialist philosopher and a leading figure in the second-wave feminism movement. Beauvoir’s seminal book The Second Sex (1949) is widely considered as the first major study of women’s oppression in contemporary western feminist theory. The aim of my project is to examine Beauvoir’s central ideas in The Second Sex and subsequently demonstrate the topicality of Beauvoir’s manifesto on the feminist movement today.
Tag: contemporary
It is only a recent occurrence that people have realised the importance of the environment and the damage we are doing to it. This has caused a wider response to nature conservation than ever before, with more people getting involved and more things being done to protect the environment and the natural world. Attitudes have changed. How then, do these attitudes differ to previous philosophical attitudes of Western philosophy? My project starts with an introduction as to why I chose the natural world and nature conservation, it being a great interest and love for me. It continues with a look at the history of philosophical attitudes towards the natural world such as Newton believing man was very much an observer and other common beliefs that man was separate to nature. This will show to what extent these philosophies provided an attitude towards nature which was one of almost indifference as far as conservation was concerned. Finally my project moves to the contemporary where it will explore the work of Edward O. Wilson, The Future of Life to see how far attitudes have changed. For support with this discussion my project includes the thoughts and views of other contemporary philosophers such as Holmes Rolston III and current environmental issues from sources such as the news.