The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir - Iseult Gillespie

翻译人员: Ying Lu 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

At the age of 21, Simone de Beauvoir became the youngest person

在 21 岁时，西蒙娜 · 德 · 波伏娃 （Simone de Beauvoir）成为

to take the philosophy exams at France’s most esteemed university.

法国最权威大学的 哲学考试中最年轻的考生。

She passed with flying colors.

她出色地通过了考试。

But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy,

但是随着她逐步掌握哲学的原则，

she wanted to break them.

她想要打破他们。

She’d been schooled on Plato’s Theory of Forms,

她一直被灌输着柏拉图的理型论，

which dismissed the physical world as a flawed reflection

它忽视了物质世界 实为非理型的反映，

of higher truths and unchanging ideals.

展示着更高的真理和不变的理念。

But for de Beauvoir, earthly life was enthralling, sensual,

但是对于波伏娃而言， 世俗生活是迷人、

and anything but static.

感性等，但是波澜不惊。

Her desire to explore the physical world to its fullest would shape her life,

她对现实世界探索的渴望 影响了她的生活，

and eventually, inspire a radical new philosophy.

最终，激发出革命性的新哲学观。

Endlessly debating with her romantic and intellectual partner Jean Paul Sartre,

在与她的亲密爱人， 同时也是聪慧的伴侣

让 · 保罗 · 萨特（Jean Paul Sartre） 无止尽的辩论中，

de Beauvoir explored free will, desire, rights and responsibilities,

德·波伏娃探索着 自由意志、渴望、权利和责任，

and the value of personal experience.

以及个人经验的价值。

In the years following WWII,

在接下来的二战期间， 这些想法融合成为与他们的作品

these ideas would converge into the school of thought

most closely associated with their work: existentialism.

关系最密切的思想流派：存在主义。

Where Judeo-Christian traditions taught that

犹太教和基督教的传统都宣扬

humans are born with preordained purpose,

人类天生带有命中注定的目的，

de Beauvoir and Sartre proposed a revolutionary alternative.

德 · 波伏娃和萨特提出 另一个革命性的观点。

They argued that humans are born free,

他们认为人类生而自由，

and thrown into existence without a divine plan.

并不是为了实现神圣计划而存在。

As de Beauvoir acknowledged, this freedom is both a blessing and a burden.

正如德·波伏娃所承认， 这种自由既是福赐也是负担。

In "The Ethics of Ambiguity" she argued that our greatest ethical imperative

在《模糊性的道德》一书中， 她认为我们最大的道德使命在于

is to create our own life’s meaning,

创造我们自己生命的意义，

while protecting the freedom of others to do the same.

同时也要守护他人如此做的自由。

As de Beauvoir wrote,

正如德·波伏娃所写，

“A freedom which is interested only in denying freedom must be denied.”

“仅仅为了否定自由 本身的自由必须被摈弃。”

This philosophy challenged its students to navigate the ambiguities and conflicts

这种哲学挑战了学生探究欲望所产生

内外部的模糊性和冲突。

our desires produce, both internally and externally.

And as de Beauvoir sought to find her own purpose,

正如德 · 波伏娃探索她自己的目的，

she began to question:

她开始质疑：

if everyone deserves to freely pursue meaning,

如果人人都有权自由追求人生的意义，

why was she restricted by society’s ideals of womanhood?

那为什么她受到社会 对女性理想的束缚呢？

Despite her prolific writing, teaching and activism,

尽管她在写作、教学 和行动主义上都很活跃，

de Beauvoir struggled to be taken seriously by her male peers.

德 · 波伏娃仍然很难 被同业男性的认真对待。

She’d rejected her Catholic upbringing and marital expectations

她背离了天主教家庭的束缚 以及他人对她婚姻的期待，

to study at university, and write memoirs, fiction and philosophy.

进入大学学习，开始写 自传、小说和哲学论文。

But the risks she was taking by embracing this lifestyle

但这样的生活方式也

were lost on many of her male counterparts,

让她失去了很多男性同行，

who took these freedoms for granted.

他们视这些自由为理所当然。

They had no intellectual interest in de Beauvoir’s work,

在学术上，他们对于 德·波伏娃的作品毫无兴趣

which explored women’s inner lives,

因为这些作品探索的是 女性的内心活动，

as well the author’s open relationship and bisexuality.

以及作者的开放式关系和双性恋。

To convey the importance of her perspective,

为了表明她观点的重要性，

de Beauvoir embarked on her most challenging book yet.

德·波伏娃在她最具 挑战性的著作里做了阐释。

Just as she’d created the foundations of existentialism,

正如她曾创造了存在主义的基石，

she’d now redefine the limits of gender.

现在她要重新定义性别的边界。

Published in 1949, "The Second Sex" argues that, like our life’s meaning,

1949 年出版的《第二性》认为， 正如生命的意义，

gender is not predestined.

性别也不是事先决定的。

As de Beauvoir famously wrote,

正如德·波伏娃名言，

“one is not born, but rather becomes, woman.”

“女人不是天生的，而是后天形成的。”

And to “become” a woman, she argued, was to become the Other.

关于“后天形成”的女性， 她论证为，是成为“她者”。

De Beauvoir defined Othering as the process of labeling women

德·波伏娃定义“她者”是 女性标签化的过程，

as less than the men who’d historically defined, and been defined as,

将女性标识为不如男性，

而在历史上一直由男性自己 来把男性定义为理想的人类。

the ideal human subjects.

身为 “她者” ，她认为 女性被认为次于男性，

As the Other, she argued that women were considered second to men,

and therefore systematically restricted from pursuing freedom.

因此在追求自由时， 便会受到体制上的限制。

"The Second Sex" became an essential feminist treatise,

《第二性》成为了 女权主义里程碑式的著作，

offering a detailed history of women’s oppression

提供了关于女性受压迫的详细历史，

and a wealth of anecdotal testimony.

和大量的传闻证实。

"The Second Sex"’s combination of personal experience

《第二性》融合了个人经历

and philosophical intervention

和哲学思想

provided a new language to discuss feminist theory.

产生了谈论女权主义理论的全新语言。

Today, those conversations are still informed by de Beauvoir’s insistence

今天，这些谈话仍然深受德·波伏娃

that in the pursuit of equality,

对追求平等的坚持，

“there is no divorce between philosophy and life.”

“哲学和生活息息相关。”

Of course, like any foundational work,

当然，如任何基础原理著作，

the ideas in "The Second Sex" have been expanded upon since its publication.

《第二性》的观点自从出版后， 就开始被拓展开来。

Many modern thinkers have explored additional ways people are Othered

许多当代思想家都探究了 德·波伏娃尚未认知到的

人类被区别对待的其他形式。

that de Beauvoir doesn’t acknowledge.

These include racial and economic identities,

这些包括种族和经济的认同感，

as well as the broader spectrum of gender and sexual identities we understand today.

以及我们如今 对性别和性有更广泛认知。

De Beauvoir’s legacy is further complicated

德·波伏娃对后世的影响也是褒贬不一，

by accusations of sexual misconduct by two of her university students.

她被所执教大学的两个学生 以不当性行为所指控。

In the face of these accusations,

面对这些指控，

she had her teaching license revoked for abusing her position.

她因滥用职权被吊销了教师证。

In this aspect and others, de Beauvoir’s life remains controversial—

或多或少， 德·波伏娃的一生是富有争议的

and her work represents a contentious moment in the emergence of early feminism.

她的作品也代表了 富有争议的早期女权主义。

She participated in those conversations for the rest of her life;

她一生都处于这些争论之中，

writing fiction, philosophy, and memoirs until her death in 1986.

写小说，哲学著作和自传 直到 1986 年与世长辞。

Today, her work offers a philosophical language

如今，她的著作 提供了一种哲学表达方式，

to be reimagined, revisited and rebelled against—

让大家可以重新想象， 重新审视，以及反对驳斥——

a response this revolutionary thinker might have welcomed.

这位革命性的思想者若尚在世， 或许会很欢迎这样的反应。