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

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

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

二十一歲時，西蒙娜．德．波娃成為

法國最受敬重的大學中 參加哲學考試最年輕的人。

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

She passed with flying colors.

她高分通過考試。

But as soon as she mastered the rules of philosophy,

但，她才剛精通了哲學規則，

she wanted to break them.

馬上就想要打破它們。

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

她受到的教育， 是柏拉圖的理型論，

which dismissed the physical world as a flawed reflection

理型論貶低物質世界，認為它是

用有瑕疵的方式反映出 更高的真理和不變之理想。

of higher truths and unchanging ideals.

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

但，對德．波娃而言， 世間的生活很迷人、充滿感受，

and anything but static.

絕對不是靜止不變的。

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

她想要完整地探索物質世界， 這個慾望形塑了她的人生，

and eventually, inspire a radical new philosophy.

最終賦予她靈感，讓她 提出了很極端的新哲學。

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

德．波娃總是不斷和她聰明的 另一半尚．保羅．沙特辯論，

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

探討自由意志、慾望、權利、責任，

and the value of personal experience.

以及個人經歷體驗的價值。

In the years following WWII,

在二次世界大戰後，

these ideas would converge into the school of thought

這些想法聚合成為和他們的作品

most closely associated with their work: existentialism.

關係最密切的思想學派：存在主義。

Where Judeo-Christian traditions taught that

猶太基督教的傳統教導中認為

humans are born with preordained purpose,

人類出生時就已經有天註定的目的，

de Beauvoir and Sartre proposed a revolutionary alternative.

就這一點，德．波娃和沙特提出了 一個革命性的替代想法。

They argued that humans are born free,

他們主張，人類生而自由，

and thrown into existence without a divine plan.

人類並不是為了 實現神聖計畫才存在。

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

德．波娃認為，這種自由 既是福賜也是負擔。

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

在《模糊的倫理學》中， 她主張，我們最偉大的倫理責任

is to create our own life’s meaning,

是為我們自己的生命創造意義。

while protecting the freedom of others to do the same.

同時也要保護他人這麼做的自由。

As de Beauvoir wrote,

如德．波娃所寫的：

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

「以否認為目的的自由， 才應該要被否認。」

This philosophy challenged its students to navigate the ambiguities and conflicts

該哲學挑戰其學生在我們的慾望

所產生的模糊 和衝突之中找到方向，

our desires produce, both internally and externally.

內在與外在皆是如此。

And as de Beauvoir sought to find her own purpose,

當德．波娃在試圖找到 她自己的人生目的時，

she began to question:

她開始質疑：

if everyone deserves to freely pursue meaning,

如果人人都有權 自由追求人生的意義，

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

為什麼她受到社會女性理想的限制？

Despite her prolific writing, teaching and activism,

儘管德．波娃在寫作、教書， 和行動主義上都很活躍，

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

她仍很難被男性同儕認真看待。

She’d rejected her Catholic upbringing and marital expectations

她背離了她的天主教教養 及別人對她結婚的期望，

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

去上大學，

還撰寫回憶錄、小說，和哲學。

But the risks she was taking by embracing this lifestyle

但，和她狀況類似的許多男性

were lost on many of her male counterparts,

對她擁抱這種生活方式 要承擔的風險完全無感，

who took these freedoms for granted.

他們只把自由視為理所當然。

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

他們對於德．波娃的著作 完全沒有知識方面的興趣，

which explored women’s inner lives,

那些著作在探究女性的內在生活，

as well the author’s open relationship and bisexuality.

及作者自己的開放關係及雙性向。

To convey the importance of her perspective,

為了傳達自己觀點的重要性，

de Beauvoir embarked on her most challenging book yet.

德．波娃開始著手撰寫 她最有挑戰性的書籍。

Just as she’d created the foundations of existentialism,

正如同先前她為 存在主義奠定了基礎，

she’d now redefine the limits of gender.

她接著重新定義性別的限制。

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

1949 年出版的《第二性》主張，

和人生的意義一樣， 性別也不是天註定的。

gender is not predestined.

As de Beauvoir famously wrote,

正如德．波娃的名句：

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

「人並非生出來就是女人， 而是變成女人。」

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

她認為，「變成」女人， 就等於是變成「他人」。

De Beauvoir defined Othering as the process of labeling women

德．波娃將「他人化」定義為 一個將女性貼上標籤的過程，

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

將女性標籤為不如男性，

而在歷史上一直都是由男性自己 來把男性定義為理想的人類。

the ideal human subjects.

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

身為「他人」，她認為 女性被視為次於男性，

and therefore systematically restricted from pursuing freedom.

因此在追求自由時 便會受到體制上的限制。

"The Second Sex" became an essential feminist treatise,

《第二性》變成了 很重要的女權主義論述，

offering a detailed history of women’s oppression

提供關於女性受壓迫的詳細歷史，

and a wealth of anecdotal testimony.

以及大量的軼事證據。

"The Second Sex"’s combination of personal experience

《第二性》結合了個人經歷

and philosophical intervention

和哲學的干預，

provided a new language to discuss feminist theory.

提供了一種新語言， 來討論女權主義理論。

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

現今，關於女權的談話討論都仍 離不開德．波娃竭力主張的想法：

that in the pursuit of equality,

在追求平等時，

“there is no divorce between philosophy and life.”

「哲學和人生是分不開的。」

Of course, like any foundational work,

當然，和任何重要的作品一樣，

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

《第二性》出版之後， 其想法就被開始被拓展開來。

Many modern thinkers have explored additional ways people are Othered

許多現代思想家都探究了

德．波娃沒有談到的 其他「他人化」方式。

that de Beauvoir doesn’t acknowledge.

These include racial and economic identities,

這些方式包括種族和經濟身分，

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

以及現今我們所知更廣泛的 性別和性向身分光譜。

De Beauvoir’s legacy is further complicated

德．波娃的兩名大學學生 控訴她性騷擾，

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

讓她留給後人的影響變得更複雜。

In the face of these accusations,

發生這些控訴時，

she had her teaching license revoked for abusing her position.

她的教學執照被撤消， 理由是濫用職權。

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

在這方面及其他方面， 德．波娃的人生仍頗具爭議性——

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

她的作品代表著早期 女權主義出現的爭議時刻。

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

她餘生都持續參與那些對談討論；

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

寫小說、哲學，以及回憶錄， 直到 1986 年離開人世。

Today, her work offers a philosophical language

現今，她的作品提供了 一種哲學表達方式，

to be reimagined, revisited and rebelled against—

讓大家可以重新想像它、 重新回顧它，以及反對它——

a response this revolutionary thinker might have welcomed.

這位革命性思想家如果還在世 應該會很歡迎這樣的反應。