Hey there!
In this week's issue, I want to talk about Simone De Beauvoir and her fascinating ideas on ambiguity.
If you haven't heard of her, De Beauvoir was a French philosopher, feminist, and writer who played a key role in shaping existentialist thought. In this post I’ll explore her ideas on what she calls ambiguity, the challenges we humans face with ambiguity, and some ways to put these ideas to practice.
The ambiguity of existence
First of all, it needs to be clear that the concept of ambiguity that De Beauvoir talks about in her work is different from the common use of the word.
The concept she talks about is referring to what she believes to be a universal component of human existence.
The idea of ambiguity is something she develops in her book “The Ethics of Ambiguity”, where she says that we humans live our lives within multiple dual conditions or sets of dichotomies that present themselves in our lives.
Some of these dualities could be:
Subject(individuals with agency) & Object(Exposed to the actions of others)
Transcendence(the possibilities we can create for our future) & Facticity(the unchanging facts of our past and present)
Individual & Member of a community
Mind & Matter
Free & Limited
In each of these cases and many more, we never embody either one or the other, but both at the same time. We are free to make our own decisions, but limited by the context in which we live; we are individuals living our own lives, but that life happens in relation to other people around us, and so on.
The discomfort of ambiguity
In the book, Simone De Beauvoir says that this presents an important challenge for us, living between two ends of a dichotomy creates a level of tension in us, and makes us feel a form of discomfort.
This comes from this complexity, from the lack of clarity, and the responsibility required for accepting the freedom that comes along with embracing the ambiguity
As a result of this, people, as well as most thinkers throughout history, try to escape this feeling by overvaluing only one side of a duality and ignoring the other, thus, artificially simplifying the human condition to make it easier to live with.
Examples of this are very common, people whose identities are mainly supported by their affiliation to a specific group(political party, religion, job, etc); people who blame others for their shortcomings and fail to see their ability to take action on them; any form of oppression that denies one’s own or other’s freedom, and many more.
You may wonder what is the problem with making life easier? Why would we want to live with this tension?
Well, there are plenty of bad consequences that result from this.
First, on a personal level, this causes us to quickly discard any ideas that don’t fall in line with the side of the duality that we chose to favor, thus, we end up missing out on so much of what the world can offer.
Then, if we look back at the 20th century we don’t have to look too far to find examples of people that hold very limited, black-and-white, beliefs about the world and want to impose them on the rest of the world, as well as the bloodshed and catastrophic effects that follow. In fact, De Beauvoir experienced this firsthand during the occupation of France during World War II.
Insights for overcoming oppression and assuming our freedom.
Ultimately, the ideas of ambiguity and freedom are highly related to one another, she says that it is the basis upon which the “Ethics of Ambiguity” comes to be and believed that we must will ourselves and others free. And here are some of her ideas on how to do that.
To actively face ambiguity and our freedom rather than fleeing from it.
Assume freedom by a positive movement, this means engaging in projects and choices to make the world we’d like to have and taking action on the things we believe.
Assume it in a negative movement by rejecting the denial of ambiguity and oppression in ourselves and others.
To put an end to this post, I want to say that Simone De Beauvoir's ideas are crucial in understanding the human condition and have left a mark on the world that can be seen until this day. Her words hold immense power and can help us all become better individuals. While her ideas may be complex, I've tried my best to do them justice, so I invite you to continue learning from her, as her work has the potential to enrich our lives in so many ways.
-Alan
P.S. If you'd like to know more about the ideas in this post, I recommend these podcasts episodes: