Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher. She was better known as a feminist scholar and novelist. She was also well known as the lover and life long companion of Jean-Paul Sartre. But foremost Simone is well known for the necessity of being responsible for one-self. She became a key exponent of existentialism, a movement in philosophy that emphasizes individual freedom and choice.
Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris, France 1908. Simone grew up in a respected bourgeois family, eldest of two daughters. At a young age she adopted atheism and devoted her life to writing and studying. She studied at the École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne, graduating in 1929 with a degree in philosophy. As a final thesis, she wrote on Leibniz. Philosophy was, for her a discussion and study of the essentials of existence-- though she was also fascinated by beauty and aesthetics.
While at Sorbonne Simone met French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom she shared an intellectual interests. From then on they became life long companions till his death in 1980. De Beauvoir taught high school while developing the basis for her philosophical thought between 1931 and 1943. During which she followed the traditional eighteenths century critics (gadfly philosophy's), along with her formal philosophy to voice her sentiments on feminism and existentialism. .
Thus begins what was said to be the moral' phase of her life. In 1943 she published her first novel, L'invitée, translated as She Came to Stay, in 1949. Hence the beginning of her most important philosophical works Pyrrhus et Cineas which was published in 1944, and The Ethics of Ambiguity, 1948. In 1947 Simone became a committed writer and devoted herself to analyzing the social, cultural, philosophical and political problems of her time. .
During World War II (1939-1945) Simone and Jean-Paul remained in Paris, writing and discussing philosophy.