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Simone de Beauvoir
Origin:
Paris, France
(January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986)
Heroic Values: Achievement, Courage, Integrity, Perseverance, Tolerance, Vision, Wisdom
Background
Simone de Beauvoir discovered early as a child that she loved to learn. She attended the best schools in Paris, finally arriving at the Sorbonne to study philosophy.It was at university that she met Jean-Paul Sartre who became a life-long friend and partner. The pair topped the exams to become educators, Sartre coming first despite most judges thinking Beauvoir deserved to be top. The fact that Sartre was a man and was attempting the exam a second time were attributed to the award going his way. The Second World War saw her dealing with life under occupation living with Sartre and a group of friends they called "the family".
She published the definitive entry text for French existentialism, The Ethics of Ambiguity, in 1944. She followed that up with her most famous work, The Second Sex, in 1947. This work suggested that women should break out of the definitions of the female and stop aspiring to be more "man-like", rather become something unique. The fame she was granted from the book enabled her to travel and continue writing whatever she chose to. In the 1970s she became an active part of the feminist movement in France, often being called the mother of second wave feminism.
Simone de Beauvoir died in 1986, outlasting her life-long partner, Sartre by six years. The pair are buried side by side in Cimetière du Montparnasse. She is remembered as one of the leading philosphers of the 20th Century.
Sources
Wikipedia
The online encyclopedia
Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Simone de Beauvoir's entry
The
Existential Primer
A set of resources fo Beauvoir