Abstract
There are prominent resemblances between issues addressed by Simone de
Beauvoir in her early essay on moral philosophy, Pyrrhus and Cineas (1944), and
issues attracting the attention of contemporary feminist ethicists, especially those
concerned with the ethics of care. They include a focus on relationships, interaction,
and mutual dependency. Both emphasize concrete ethical challenges rooted in
everyday life, such as those affecting parents and children. Both are critical of the
level of abstraction and insensitivity to the situation of the moral agent in utilitarianism
and Kantian ethics. And both condemn the “moral point of view,” i.e. the assumption
that it is possible to speak with a universal voice on behalf of humanity. These resemblances are explored in this article.