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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated The Ethics of Ambiguity in Books

Aug 30, 2017  
The Ethics of Ambiguity
The Ethics of Ambiguity
Simone de Beauvoir | 1947 | Essays, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Complex themes, slightly obvious
Simone De Beauvoir is one of the foremost feminist philiosophers there are. However, unlike in The Second Sex, The Ethics of Ambiguity explores the nature of freedom and basically deconstructs arguments made by pioneering philosophers Marx and Kant. She poses the question how can humans be both subject and object yet still be free? She says if humans are born free why are they also treated like objects to control? And there lies the ambiguity.

As free, we have the ability to take note of ourselves and choose what to do. As factic, we are constrained by physical limits, social barriers and the expectations and political power of others. She has quite a Hobbesian approach saying human beings are responsible for their own actions and therefore have to work at creating concrete ideals rather than following an abstract notion of freedom.

She also criticises approaches that require grasping for freedom at the expense of others - adding that inadvertently reduces gaining freedom down to another form of slavery ie. Communism, Capitalism and Democracies.

She concludes that the only way you can will yourself free is to will others free in the process.

While the sentiment is there, her writing style was very repetitive in this book, and at times a little tangential. Not her best work, but still very relevant for current times.
  
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David McK (3874 KP) rated The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5) in Books

Jan 28, 2019  
The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5)
The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, #5)
C.S. Lewis | 1995 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
7.9 (17 Ratings)
Book Rating
Firstly, is this the third Narnia book, or is it the fifth?

The answer to that is whether you go by chronological setting (in which case it's the third), or by publication date (it's the fifth).

This is also a story that I didn't remember reading as a child; however, when I was recently re-reading it I was finding plot elements to be a little-bit-more-familiar than I was otherwise expecting: perhaps I did, and had just forgotten.

Unlike [b: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe|100915|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)|C.S. Lewis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353029077s/100915.jpg|4790821], this does not follow the Pevensie children, but rather the journey of a young boy named Shasta who discovers he was adopted and is running away to Narnia when his adoptive father is about to sell him into slavery; running away alongside/with the help of the talking horse Bree. Along the way they fall in with a girl named Aravis and her talking horse Hwin, who are also making the same escape.

While I've heard arguments recently that, in this book, CS Lewis is displaying his own racist xenophobia ('fair and white ... accursed but beautiful Barbarians'), personally I think that is reading too much into what is simply intended to be a children's Arabian Nights esque fairytale