“Men of today”
Simone De Beauvoir describes, “Men of today seem to feel more acutely than ever the paradox of their condition. They know themselves to be the supreme end to which all action should be subordinated, but the exigencies of action force them to treat one another as instruments or obstacles, as means. The more widespread their mastery of the world, the more they find themselves crushed by uncontrollable forces. Though they are masters of the atomic bomb, yet it is created only to destroy them. Each one has the incomparable taste in his mouth of his own life, and yet each feels himself more insignificant than an insect within the immense collectivity whose limits are one with the earth’s." Contradictions regarding the existence of contemporary man are omnipresent. Men recognize their superiority relative to other creations in the world. However, the supremacy is limited because there are forces which man has not yet managed to subdue. The formation of atomic weapons depicts the intelligence of man; however, the bombs do not spare man ( who makes them) from devastation. Accordingly, men must continuously reconcile their concurrent superiority and inferiority.
Existence
Simone De Beauvoir elucidates, “Existence asserts itself as an absolute which must seek its justification within itself and not suppress itself, even though it may be lost by preserving itself. To attain his truth, man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it. He rejoins himself only to the extent that he agrees to remain at a distance from himself. This conversion is sharply distinguished from the Stoic conversion in that it does not claim to oppose to the sensible universe a formal freedom which is without content.” Suppression of existence would invalidate it. Existence is mandatory for the being of man, since human beings cannot alienate themselves from their being; if they do, they cease to exist. Therefore, existence must be realized for man to endure.
“The Aesthetic Attitude”
Simone De Beauvoir states, “Thus, every man has to do with other men. The world in which he engages himself is a human world in which each object is penetrated with human meanings. It is a speaking world from which solicitations and appeals rise up. This means that, through this world, each individual can give his freedom a concrete content. He must disclose the world with the purpose of further disclosure and by the same movement try to free men, by means of whom the world takes on meaning." Man cannot exist in a world where other humans are nonexistence. Interpersonal relationships amplify the aesthetics of existence. Man derives meaning and utility of existence through interactions with other humans. The world would not have any meaning if there were no humans in it, so that the world and humans have a mutual and aesthetic relationship.
