Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2020
In these interviews from 1982 and 1985, I ask Beauvoir about her philosophical differences with Jean-Paul Sartre on the issues of voluntarism vs social conditioning and embodiment, individualism vs reciprocity, and ontology vs ethics. We also discuss her influence on Sartre's work, the problems with the current English translation of The Second Sex, her analyses of motherhood and feminist concepts of woman-identity, and her own experience of sexism.
I am indebted to the editors of this issue, Nancy Fraser and Sandra Bartky, for their encouragement and helpful suggestions during the long process of preparing these interviews for publication; to Jane Marie Todd, for undertaking the tasks of transcribing them from the tape, translating, and editing them; to the Graduate School of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, for supporting my travel to France; and to Simone de Beauvoir for generously agreeing to meet with me and respond to my questions.