While her work is often eclipsed by her longtime partner, Jean-Paul Satre, Simone de Beauvoir’s 1949 book The Second Sex analyses and deconstructs the history of women’s oppression, with a range of sources in its composition.

She began as a philosophy teacher and became a full-time writer during the second World War, publishing dozens of books including a major work on existentialist ethics, an autobiography, and novels.

The Second Sex examines how the pervasive efforts to subordinate women could be seen in sociology, history, economics, philosophy and more, leading her to argue that “one is not born, but rather becomes, woman”, leading to a social construction that limits and constricts their efforts to be equal let alone thrive. While an earlier defender to the rights of abortion and critic of marriage led to debate and condemnation, her work continues to be influential as the writings of an early 20th century philosopher and feminist. 

I have previously discussed the works of John Stuart Mill and Mary Wollstonecraft on the podcast; the late 18th and early 19th centuries brought us texts such as Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Mill’s The Subjection of Women, both works which challenge the inequality of the sexes. It was during these times that campaigns to allow women to vote, have the right to own property and custody of their children, access to better education and work became popularised - not only through protest and political debate, but through philosophical works.

Mill’s The Subjection of Women in particular proposed how fairer treatment is based on a utilitarian appeal to the greater happiness for all. He argued that the emancipation of women would lead to the benefits of their minds and labour to the nation, allowing for a ‘school of moral cultivation’, with respect and equality benefiting greater society, and even personal relationships between the sexes. In 1867 Mill proposed an amendment to the Reform Bill designed to give votes to women, although it was only in 1918 that this finally came to pass.

The essential philosophical themes of feminism include access for both sexes to education, civil rights, employment, resulting in equal opportunities for all. There are many interpretations and developments upon this theme; in the early stages of feminist history, the right to vote and education were important factors, and since that time has extended to topics such as reproductive rights, support for transgender people and social justice issues.

Within philosophy itself, there has been an effort to uncover and recognise the efforts and contributions of women philosophers through time, in numerous areas such as aesthetics, science, metaphysics and ethics. Despite a historical trend towards marginalising and limiting women’s status in society, there is a strong effort to reform and improve the discipline to include both genders equally in philosophy.

Today’s episode is the second revision of the topics on resources involving political philosophy — you can support the 365DaysOfPhilosophy podcast by visiting www.patreon.com/kyliesturgess and review previous episodes at www.365daysofphilosophy.com.

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For Patreon subscribers, there’s further revision questions by heading to www.patreon.com/kyliesturgess.

Philosopher Johanna “Hannah” Arendt’s work is a broad spectrum of modern history and politics, primarily focusing on totalitarianism and revolution; on the faculty for human judgment, and how freedom and citizenship should be supported. For Arendt, political power is developed through thought, debate, and discussion, by having checks and balances to ensure that power is in the hands of the people rather than a sole rulers. Following on from the example of the Greek polis, citizens should encourage diverse opinions to be aired, and this reflection on social life creates meaningfulness.

It is the lack of those opportunities for the population that can lead to totalitarianism, and superficial, shallow activities that discourage political awareness. Arendt drew upon Augustine’s idea of natality, the capacity of political action to initiate new beginnings.

Taking Rights Seriously was published in 1977 by Ronald Dworkin, a work that proposes a third option to natural law theory (that there is a higher power that guides what is moral and correct) and legal positivism (that there is a separation between law and morality). His primary argument is that law is interpretative, allowing for legal questions to be not only settled by uncontroversial standards but also normative principles that underly agreed-upon laws. 

For Dworkin, right answers follow from what is the best constructive interpretation, allowing for a third way beyond divine guidance as the natural law theorists propose and that law and morality are intertwined. General principles aid the rules that we make and judgments are bound by the aid that they provide.

Published three years after Rawl’s A Theory of Justice, Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State and Utopia is another influential work of analytical political philosophy. As a critic of Rawl’s work, he proposes a limited role for government, focusing on protections against theft, fraud and preventing attacks on individual rights

Nozick’s approach to humanity is that they are ‘ends in themselves’, and with natural rights, including self-ownership, and defends libertarianism. He also devised a thought experiment called the ‘experience machine’, proposing that if given the choice to have only pleasurable experiences through artificial means, people would reject the opportunity, challenging the classic utilitarian view that pleasure is the main driving force in ethical judgements.

A Theory Of Justice is considered to be one of the crucial works of 20th century philosophy, dealing with political liberalism, social-contracts and a challenge to utilitarianism.

Its author, John Rawls, proposes the notion of ‘justice as fairness’; that a society should be ruled by principles that would be debated and concluded as fair, a situation called the ‘original position’. With an informed group of interlocutors, they would be aware of the basics of human nature, economics and societal norms and so on, but generally operate under what is called a ‘veil of ignorance’ about the specifics about the society, status of members of the population and this would allow them to act in such a way to prevent bias towards their own interests. 

Under the conditions that Rawls proposes, the goals of basic liberties for all and a prevention of injustice ensues, with a system that promotes freedom and equality. While A Theory of Justice has its critics, its promotion of social contractors working together for the benefit of all, makes it a powerful work in the field of modern political philosophy.

Today’s episode is the second revision of the topics on resources involving political philosophy — you can support the 365DaysOfPhilosophy podcast by visiting www.patreon.com/kyliesturgess and review previous episodes at www.365daysofphilosophy.com.

If you can help the show continue, head to:https://www.patreon.com/kyliesturgess

Music from Jukedeck — create your own at http://jukedeck.com.