Simone de Beauvoir's Philosophy of Individuation: The Problem of The Second Sex

Description

An experimental reading of The Second Sex through the philosophy of Gilles DeleuzeLaura Hengehold presents a new, Deleuzian reading of Simone de Beauvoir's phenomenology, the place of recognition in The Second Sex, the philosophical issues in her novels and the important role of her student diaries. Hengehold clarifies the elements of Deleuze's thought – alone and in collaboration with Guattari – that may be most useful to contemporary feminists who are simultaneously rethinking the becoming of gender and the becoming of philosophy.Most studies of Simone de Beauvoir situate her with respect to Hegel and the tradition of 20th-century phenomenology begun by Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. Reading Beauvoir through a Deleuzian lens encourages us to place more emphasis on Beauvoir's early interest in Bergson and Leibniz, and on the individuation of consciousness, a puzzle of continuing interest to both phenomenologists and Deleuzians.Key FeaturesSituates de Beauvoir’s focus on recognition in The Second Sex in terms of women’s struggle to individuate themselves despite sexist forms of representationDraws philosophical connections to de Beauvoir’s novels One of the first studies to take the importance of de Beauvoir’s student diaries for the development of her later thought seriously