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Thursday 3 September 2015

Think About It 005: SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR


What should a society be, so that in his last years a man might still be a man?
      The answer is simple:  he would always have to be treated as a man.  By the fate that it allots to its members who can no longer work, society gives itself away; it has always looked upon them as so much material.  Society confesses that as far as it is concerned, profit is the only thing that counts, and that its 'humanism' is mere window-dressing; Society turns away from the aged worker as though he belonged to another species.  That is why the whole question [of ageing and retirement] is buried in a conspiracy of silence.

  
Society cares about the individual only in so far as he is profitable.  The young know this.  Their anxiety as they enter in upon social life matches the anguish of the old as they are excluded from it.
 
 

La Vieillesse [The Coming of Age] (1970) 



 

Use the link below to read more (in English) about the life and work of French philosopher, feminist, social critic and novelist SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR:

 

https://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/

 

You might also enjoy:

 
The Write Advice 012: SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR

 
Think About It 002: C WRIGHT MILLS

 
Think About It 014: DOROTHY ROWE

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