Freedom and Recognition in the Work of Simone de Beauvoir

This book offers a detailed analysis of Beauvoir’s concepts of freedom and recognition concerning their impact on a philosophy of gender. It demonstrates that Beauvoir is much more than a simple equality feminist and that she posed questions that are at the center of contemporary feminist research. It shows that Beauvoir’s existentialist approach must be taken seriously in that it provides a fundamental instrument for the interpretation of gender relations. On the basis of her work the conflicts are revealed that arise when modern emancipation theories and post-modern deconstructivism clash. By investigating these conflicting tendencies the thesis is elaborated that Beauvoirs’s work can be seen as a pivot between modern and post-modern discourse.