A Mulher na História da Filosofia e sua Reconstrução em Simone de Beauvoir

Abstract

This research critically analyzes the reconstruction of women in the history of philosophy based on the thought of Simone de Beauvoir, focusing on Chapter III of The Second Sex, linked to Chapter II of The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, by Friedrich Engels. The investigation adopts a qualitative and inductive approach, using bibliographical and hermeneutic analysis to understand how Beauvoir's feminist existentialism approaches historical materialism, by denouncing that the female condition is not a biological destiny, but a social and historical construction. Beauvoir demonstrates that religious myths, biological and psychoanalytic theories naturalized female oppression, while Engels reveals the institution of the patriarchal family as an instrument of control over women's bodies and work. The dialogue between these works allows a critical reading of contemporary inequalities, especially the sexual division of labor, economic subordination and the persistence of symbolic representations that sustain patriarchy. The study concludes that women's liberation requires a break with the material and symbolic bases of domination, linking economic emancipation to the reconstruction of women's subjectivity. By positioning itself as a militant philosophy, this research reaffirms women as historical subjects, calling on them to actively participate in social transformation and the reinvention of philosophy, so that they are never again relegated to the condition of passive “Other.” In this way, the work seeks to contribute to an insurgent, critical and transformative feminist epistemology.