The Ethics of Ambiguity

Outline

The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) develops an existentialist ethics for a world without fixed values handed down from above. Simone de Beauvoir argues that human beings are free but always live in tension, and that true freedom means taking responsibility for our choices while also willing the freedom of others. The book examines different attitudes people adopt to escape freedom and shows why ethics must be lived rather than simply obeyed.

• The book builds an existentialist ethics for a world with no fixed values handed down from above.
• Human beings are free, yet they always live in tension, and the book treats that tension as part of life.
• True freedom means taking responsibility for your own choices while also willing the freedom of others.
• Beauvoir examines the different attitudes people adopt to escape their freedom.
• Ethics has to be lived, not simply obeyed.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) was a French philosopher, novelist, and one of the leading figures of existentialism and modern feminism. Her writings became foundational to modern thinking about freedom and equality, and her novel The Mandarins won the Prix Goncourt. She was a lifelong intellectual partner of Jean-Paul Sartre.