Quotation
Last reviewed:
“To will oneself free is also to will others free.”
Simone de Beauvoir · Existentialism · Modern · 1947
What does it mean?
To will oneself free is also to will others free. My freedom is not a private property that grows when other people have less of it. A freedom that needs others to be objects is, on her account, bad faith. A rival reading says this is a verbal trick: I can will my own freedom and remain indifferent to yours, and nothing in the logic of 'will' stops me. She thinks a freedom that requires manageable, quiet, dependent others has not willed freedom. It has willed a convenience. The exact English varies by translation.
Did Simone de Beauvoir really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. A standard English of her claim in The Ethics of Ambiguity that freedom wills itself by willing the freedom of others. The exact sentence in translation varies; the doctrine is central and secure.
Where it comes from
The Ethics of Ambiguity
Approximate date: 1947.
How to use it
Test a freedom you want, a promotion, a move, a habit in a shared flat in Brighton, by asking whether it requires someone else to stay manageable. If it does, she thinks you are not willing freedom. You may still have a reason. It will not be this one, and calling it freedom will be the evasion.
A mindset reading
Freedom is ambiguous. We are both subject and object. Ethics begins from that ambiguity rather than from a clean rule that would let one person's project define the others out of the picture.
Understand the philosophy
The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1947, is the best short statement of her ethics, written before The Second Sex. It argues with the serious person who hides behind an absolute, and with the nihilist who wills nothing. This sentence is the positive claim between those refusals.
- freedom
- ethics
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
To will oneself free is also to will others free. My freedom is not a private property that grows when other people have less of it. A freedom that needs others to be objects is, on her account, bad faith. A rival reading says this is a verbal trick: I can will my own freedom and remain indifferent to yours, and nothing in the logic of 'will' stops me. She thinks a freedom that requires manageable, quiet, dependent others has not willed freedom. It has willed a convenience. The exact English varies by translation.
Did Simone de Beauvoir really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. A standard English of her claim in The Ethics of Ambiguity that freedom wills itself by willing the freedom of others. The exact sentence in translation varies; the doctrine is central and secure.
Which work is it in?
The Ethics of Ambiguity Approximate date: 1947.