On Simone De Beauvoir's Feminist Ethical Thoughts

There are abundant ethical thoughts in Beauvoir's The Second Sex. We read The Second Sex from the ethical perspective on the base of her philosophical thoughts in all of her books. It has deep significance for the current feminist theory and its practice.In the tradition of west philosophy and in the context of modern French philosophy, Beauvoir feminist ethical thoughts mainly have four sources. Firstly, her sexual dialectic is from Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic. Secondly, Marxist theory of practical becoming of human and materialistic theory of history inspires her study on 'the problem of woman' from the perspective of history and social reality. Thirdly, phenomenology, particularly Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of body is the main analytical approach which Beauvoir used to describe the progress of embodiment of both sexes and explain its significance. Lastly, Sartre's existentialism philosophy lays the ontological foundation for Beauvoir feminist ethical thoughts.Beauvoir's philosophical thoughts are not only the theoretical foundation for her feminist ethical thoughts, but also the ideological weapon for her moral analysis of and the ethical criticism of the oppression of women. Beauvoir claims that human being is free and transcendent who should justify his existence, if he gives up his free and transcendent action, then he will fall into being-in-itself which is a moral evil. Man is not only free and transcendent, but also exists in the situation. If we make a situation in which others' freedom is limited, we are immoral. Man should transcend beyond the certain limit of a situation constantly in order to manifest our valuation and dignity. Man is situated, firstly will meet the others who have the same freedom. Self-other relationship presented a conflict because of their contradict freedom, but this relationship could be able to go beyond the conflict to build a kind of reciprocal one through the moral conversion.There are three aspects of Beauvoir feminist ethical thoughts. Firstly, she studies the human history, and finds that woman is the absolute other in the whole history. She criticizes the injustice that man makes a situation in which the freedom of woman is limited. Then she criticizes the immorality that woman is made into the absolute other through the embodiment of woman and her social roles in the patriarchal society. Secondly, she refutes the three main theories which men justify for their making women into the absolute other. Then she exposes deception and hypocrisy of the 'myth of woman' which man fabricated and she pointed out that the'myth of woman'is harmful to the women in real life. Finally, she points out the authentic road through which woman can go beyond a being as the absolute other to a being as free.