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De Beauvoir’s contention of freedom is one which is dependent on other’s freedom, which means that a person can only be free if others are also free. A person’s freedom is co-existent with another’s freedom; so that if one does not have it, so, too, will others not have it. An online encyclopedia wrote, “Beauvoir sees the other as the necessary axis of my freedom without whom, in other words, I could not be free” (iep.utm.edu). She likewise expounded the idea of freedom based on existentialism. So, if there are the so-called values, it is because they are the fruits of the exercise of human freedom. In line with this unique context of freedom, De Beauvoir also advanced the idea that although freedom needs another freedom to complement, man’s action is solely attributable to himself. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy reinforced it when it said, “Our very actions are calls to other freedoms who may choose to respond to or ignore us” (iep.utm.edu).
One possible objection to De Beauvoir’s concept of freedom as the greatest good is the distinction between freedom per se and the object of freedom itself. Freedom is equated with the free will, and the object of free choice is that something which is good and not the choice in itself. Freedom cannot be the object of itself, but something else outside of itself that makes it attracted to it. Hence, freedom is not the greatest good.
Before Emma Watson’s HeforShe advocacy, De Beauvoir was already campaigning for gender equality during her time. She insisted that “equality is not a synonym for sameness” (Bergoffen, D. 2014). Between the past and the present advocacies for feminism, the present is gaining more positive responses because the people are now becoming aware.
Works Cited
Bergoffen, Debra. "Simone De Beauvoir." Stanford University. Stanford University, 2004. Web. 09 Apr. 2016. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/>.
"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 09 Apr. 2016. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/>.
