TY - JOUR T1 - Woman, Otherness, And A Call For Equality: Simone De Beauvoir And Maurice Merleau-Ponty TT - Kadın, Ötekilik ve Eşitlik İçin Bir Çağrı: Simone De Beauvoir ve Maurice Merleau-Ponty AU - Arslan, Merve PY - 2025 DA - September Y2 - 2025 DO - 10.20981/kaygi.1696693 JF - Kaygı. Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe Dergisi JO - Kaygı PB - Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi WT - DergiPark SN - 2645-8950 SP - 679 EP - 709 VL - 24 IS - 2 LA - en AB - This study examines Simone De Beauvoir’s theory of women’s status by centralizing her masterpiece, The Second Sex. Here, Beauvoir discusses women’s situation in society existentially and phenomenologically. She concludes that woman problematically seems to be the second sex or the Other in social life. At the end of The Second Sex, Beauvoir offers that if women were economically independent, their social conditions and status would be better. In addition, she suggests some helpful steps to change women's social life situation. Thus, Beauvoir continues, they could be equal to men and have their freedom. Although Beauvoir’s theory maintains its influence with the demand for equality even today, it is argued that it may lose its impact as it holds mostly women responsible for social transformation. It is defended that each individual should embrace basic steps for effective societal transformations. In other words, everyone should accept responsibility for transformation from the beginning. If not, how is it possible to change people’s ideas concerning the status of women? On that point, for a positive understanding of the existence of the Other, Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the lived body with its social dimensions is applied. It is seen that his theory can be proposed to every single individual to spread the idea of equality for social transformations. In Merleau-Ponty’s existential and social theory, the relationships between others provide us with the awareness of equality between people and freedom in a relational field. Thus, his theory is introduced to approach the problematic status of women in Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. In this respect, it aims to highlight a theory that acknowledges the other as a valuable and meaningful existence by providing equality and freedom in intersubjective relations. KW - Phenomenology KW - Existentialism KW - Simone De Beauvoir KW - Merleau-Ponty KW - The Lived Body KW - Women’s Rights N2 - Bu çalışma, Simone De Beauvoir’ın kadınların statüsüne ilişkin teorisini, başyapıtı İkinci Cins’i merkeze alarak incelemektedir. Beauvoir burada, kadınların toplumdaki durumunu varoluşsal ve fenomenolojik olarak tartışmaktadır. Kadının toplumsal yaşamda sorunlu bir şekilde ikinci cinsiyet veya Öteki gibi göründüğü sonucuna varmaktadır. İkinci Cins’in sonunda Beauvoir, kadınlar ekonomik olarak bağımsız olsalardı, toplumsal koşullarının ve statülerinin daha iyi olacağını ileri sürmektedir. Ayrıca, kadınların toplumsal yaşam durumunu değiştirmek için bazı yararlı adımlar önermektedir. Böylece, Beauvoir devam eder, erkeklerle eşit olabilirler ve özgürlüklerine sahip olabilirler. Beauvoir’ın teorisi, eşitlik talebiyle bugün bile etkisini sürdürse de, toplumsal dönüşümden çoğunlukla kadınları sorumlu tuttuğu için etkisini kaybedebileceği ileri sürülmektedir.Etkili toplumsal dönüşümler için her bireyin temel adımları benimsemesi gerektiği savunulmaktadır. Başka bir deyişle, herkes baştan itibaren dönüşüm sorumluluğunu kabul etmelidir. Aksi takdirde, insanların kadınların statüsüne ilişkin fikirlerini değiştirmek nasıl mümkün olabilir? Bu noktada, Öteki’nin varoluşuna dair olumlu bir anlayış için Maurice Merleau-Ponty’nin toplumsal boyutlarıyla yaşanan beden kuramı uygulanır. Kuramının toplumsal dönüşümler için eşitlik fikrini yaymak amacıyla her bir bireye önerilebileceği görülür. Merleau-Ponty’nin varoluşsal ve toplumsal kuramında, başkaları arasındaki ilişkiler bize ilişkisel bir alanda insanlar arasındaki eşitlik ve özgürlük bilincini sağlar. Böylece kuramı, Beauvoir’ın İkinci Cins adlı eserinde kadınların sorunlu statüsüne yaklaşmak için tanıtılır. Bu bağlamda, öznelerarası ilişkilerde eşitlik ve özgürlük sağlayarak ötekini değerli ve anlamlı bir varoluş olarak kabul eden bir kuramı vurgulamayı amaçlar. CR - Barral, M. (1969). Merleau-Ponty on the Body. Southern Journal of Philosophy, 7, 171-179. CR - De Beauvoir, S. (1948). The Second Sex. (translated by. H. M. Parshley). London: Vintage Classics. CR - — (1997). The Ethics of Ambiguity. (translated by B. Frechtman). Secaucus, NJ:Carol Publishing Group. CR - — (2004). Pyrrhus and Cinéas, (translated by M. Timmermann). , Beauvoir: Philosophical Writings (ed. M.A. Simons). 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