Beauvoir And Kant's Groundwork Of The Metaphysics Of
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Simone de Beauvoir and Immanuel Kant both were extremely influential philosophers of their time, but have slightly differing ideas on how ethics should be handled. Simone de Beauvoir handles the question of ethics and human existence in her novel The Ethics of Ambiguity using her existentialist philosophy. In Immanuel Kant’s “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals” he addresses ethics and human existence using his deontological philosophy. Both Beauvoir and Kant agree that every human should be treated as an end, and not a means to an end. Beauvoir Although they share this similar train of thought, the way in which they go about this thinking is where their philosophies differ. While Beauvoir personally believes that every situation requires a judgement call, she disagrees with Kant’s idea of a categorical imperative in which every rational being must abide to the same moral law.…show more content… This being said, she also draws a great link between the connectivity of every human and how through each of our individual projects we make the world meaningful. This means that our choices make the world what it is. With all experiences there will be painful ones, but Beauvoir says that we must integrate suffering into our life “because there are real dangers, real failures, and real earthly damnation that words like victory, wisdom, or joy have meaning” (Beauvoir EA34). What pain does, Beauvoir says, is changes how we see life as a whole because in time, we can see how suffering can turn out something good or make the good experiences that much more pleasurable. With the idea of pain also comes the idea of evil, which Beauvoir defines evil as that it is a limit of the horizon of meaning, which limits our ability to complete life