Transcendence and Immanence

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the concepts of transcendence and immanence in terms of Simone de Beauvoir's feminist analysis. In this context, it argues that Beauvoir's use of these concepts to describe how the lives of women and men in society are distinctly culturally gendered, is not only substantiated when considered in its own historical context, but also illuminates our understanding of gender roles in Western society in the early 21st century.

From the Paper:

"In conclusion, while it may justly be said that Beauvoir is "biased" in her use of the concepts of "transcendence" and "immanence" as descriptive models of the structures that support the oppression of women in everyday life, and in her objectives to subvert this oppression and promote the liberty of women, it cannot be said that her work display "gender bias" in this area. This term implies a level of "prejudice" that potentially undermines the value of a work given the particular interests or agenda of the author. Given the extraordinary care and attention of Beauvoir in her use of these concepts to reinforce her arguments with respect to the oppression of women in Western society, and the fact that these arguments have withstood the text of time and the critique of leading authorities and scholars over the past half-century, Beauvoir's use of "transcendence" and "immanence" cannot be represented as displaying "gender bias"."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Beauvoir, S. (1949). The second sex. Trans. H.M. Parsley. London: Penguin.
• Butler, J. (1986). "Sex and gender in Simone de Beauvoir's "Second Sex"". Yale French Studies, 72: pp.35-49.
• Simons, M. (1999). Beauvoir and "The Second Sex": Feminism, race and the origins of existentialism. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
• Veltman, A. (2004). "The Sisyphean torture of housework: Simone de Beauvoir and inequitable divisions of domestic work in marriage." Hypatia, 19.3: pp.121-143.

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