The Ethics of Ambiguity -- A Literary Review (standard:other, 1273 words)
Author: GXD	Added: Apr 29 2009	Views/Reads: 3704/2189	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Simone de Beauvoir presentw a feminine view of the ethics in philosophies composed by male writers

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

as an engineer." 

You can annihilate freedom by choosing a cause doomed to failure, such
as committing disorder and anarchy.  Concepts (such as "society" or 
"the universe") exist only because the individual people or bodies in 
space exist.  When individuals unite for a purpose, in agreement, to 
deal with a situation for example, that defines/creates value. 

5. Kant and 6. Marx 

Certain human situations are, in and of themselves, absolutely
preferable to others.  Only by rejecting the present situation can room 
be made for a new situation.  This decision is made by the will of 
men/women.  Revolt and hope express this will.  The goals and meaning 
of action are defined by human wills.  In essence, this view denies 
freedom; but in practice, by using "expedient language*" to get the 
attention of others, the Marxist confirms an awareness of her/his own 
freedom and the freedom of  others.  Note the ambiguity.  To act freely 
requires no justification.  Any action useful to the party or group is 
moral action; any harmful action is immoral.  Yet Marxism expresses a 
moral ideal.  Revolt is not harmonious; it must explode at the heart of 
the world and break its continuity.  When one decides to revolt against 
an oppressor, moral freedom is born. 

---------------------- 

* Expedient language expresses indignation or admiration, such as
"selfish lying coward!" or "virtuous courageous sacrifice", somewhat 
reminiscent of the old Gobbledygook generator. 

O V E R V I E W 

Simone de Beauvoir 

Briefly, only existentialism allows for ambiguity.  Starting here, the
author pinpoints flaws and contradictions among the above viewpoints, 
and shows how they lead to unworkable and sometimes self-destructive 
beliefs, ethics, and actions.  By relinquishing worldly pursuits, one 
finds greater freedom to plan new possibilities.  Disclosure is the 
transition from "being" to "existence" -- that is from passive 
awareness to active, joyful expression of one's true nature.  This is 
liberation. 

Nothing is more obnoxious than to punish a person by forcing her/him to
perform acts which make no sense to her/him*.  Life imprisonment is 
most horrible because it preserves existence while negating its 
legitimate expression.  The options of escape and revolt, if 
successful, provide limited freedom.  If unsuccessful, suicide provides 
this freedom by a death freely chosen.  On the other hand, life 
identifies with the will-to-live.  This has a positive, concrete 
meaning when outside forces intervene to pervert one's will. 

The arguments and examples throughout the text support existentialist
interpretations of personal freedom, liberation, aesthetics, science, 
political and economic systems.  The future is closely bound up with 
the present, the immediate moment.  The present is transitory: it 
abolishes itself.  Being, however, projects into an ever-changing 
future. 

All of history's errors and sacrifices have taken place because men
believed that the end justifies the means, "any means to an end."  This 
leads to a world view of our planet as a battleground, where each 
individual asserts her/himself upon the world, encountering opposing 
choices of other individuals.  The world (and its resources) is prey to 
opposed interests, who confront each other violently, overriding moral 
principles of truth and justice.  This situation is ambiguous: 

A. Division and violence define war; the world has always been at war
and always will be. 

B. Mankind will wait indefinitely for universal peace.  There will never
be any other future. 

We have a hard time living because we are so bent on outwitting death. 
Every living moment we move closer to death; but if we are willing to 
look it in the face, every movement toward death is life.  This 
ambiguity is not absurd.  Recourse to the "serious" is a lie: it 
entails sacrifice of the person to the "thing", the "cause". 

In summary, s/he who lives has some attachment to existence; this
justifies itself to the extent it justifies the world.  One can realize 
only limited works to establish one's existence.  The ethics of this 
sad, austere finiteness, ended by death, are experienced in the truth 
of life itself. 

--------------------- 

*Example: being forced to empty and fill the same ditch, or to study
algebra for a career in dancing and care of the elderly. 

Seattle, March 24, 1997 - Gerald X. Diamond - All Rights Reserved 


Tweet