The Ethics of Ambiguity

De Beauvoir outlines a series of "ways of being" (the adventurer, the passionate person, the lover, the artist, and the intellectual), each of which overcomes the former's deficiencies, and therefore can live up to the responsibilities of freedom. Ultimately, de Beauvoir argues that in order to achieve true freedom, one must battle against the choices and activities of those who suppress it. The Ethics of Ambiguity is the book that launched Simone de Beauvoir's feminist and existential philosophy. It remains a concise yet thorough examination of existence and what it means to be human. "More than any other single human, [de Beauvior's] responsible for the current international women's movement." —Gloria Steinem "One of de Beauvoir's most intriguing and original philosophical works." — Philosophy Now