We are existing and we have freedom. However, Simone de Beauvoir (along with Sartre) says we can only act as though we portray one of those qualities at a time. This is what she calls ambiguity. You are a fact–you exist as an object. But you are also free–you can become something, come up with your own values. Existentialists like Beauvoir and Sartre are just showing how weird it is that we actually have those two qualities. A free object? No, only either or at a time–otherwise that’s nonsense.
Beauvoir in particular is bothered by those who deny freedom and live out their lives mostly with the fact that they are in fact a fact, and nothing more. She actually makes a hierarchy of these kinds of people. [The following lack of gender-neutral language is for the sake of using the terms Beauvoir herself used.] Are you one of these men?
Lowest of the low: THE SUB-MAN. Are you a sub-man? Do you absolutely avoid anything having to do with your freedom always? Do you hate making choices? Do you fear the possibility of being a possibility of possibilities? Do you feel like a madman constantly following one ideology that’s floating in the air after another? Do you suddenly feel a violent urge when reacting to anything in life? Eh, then you’re just a mere sub-man, you lowly being. You disgust and seriously confuse Beauvoir in your facticity.
Why so serious: THE SERIOUS MAN. What about being a serious man? Do you just let the world choose for you? Do you feel comfortable when you take up the trends that everyone seems to follow no matter how quickly they change? Do you feel like a child sometimes–the world has its ways and that’s just how it is? Do you settle with the idea that you have no authority in who you can be? Then you’re the serious man. You live in the serious world, one where your values are prescribed for you. Beauvoir asks, why do you pretend as if you’re not free?
Nothing else matters: THE NIHILIST. Are you just a sad nihilist? Did you lose all faith in yourself? Did you never recover from that heartbreak during middle school? Would you rather let the world choose for you because you can’t do anything right? Do you just want to be nothing? Do you care about no one else being anything? Then you must be a nihilist. So negative, so lame…Beauvoir doesn’t like how you view life.
Always going, never stopping: THE ADVENTURER. Do you go on adventure after adventure? Are you the kind to move on from one project to the next even though you didn’t finish the first one? Do you mindlessly do things in life without caring about what’s going to come out of it? Do you like doing things just because you are doing things? Do you find others in life but just don’t give a damn about what their life is like? Do you do stuff without carrying any values towards anything at all? Then you’re a crazed adventurer. Beauvoir finds your lack of fulfillment disturbing.
Such self-indulgence: THE PASSIONATE MAN. Are you passionate about everything YOU do? Is everything about you? Is whatever you feel like you’re doing revolving around your own tastes and likes? Are you willing to stomp over others to achieve your goals? Do you have no regard for humanity? Do you feel free only when the spotlight is on your creation? Then you’re a passionate man. While you might think you’re not denying your freedom, you forget freedom is not just about yourself. Beauvoir gives you the angry eyes.
At the end of the day, whether you’re the sub-man and you act like there’s no freedom or you’re the passionate man and you do not fully actualize your freedom, you entirely treat yourself like a fact in the world. You’re not being free enough. Hey. Stop denying your freedom.
