Beauvoir’s Historical-Materialist Critique of Consequentialism in The Ethics of Ambiguity

Abstract This article argues that The Ethics of Ambiguity moves away from Beauvoir’s early idealist emphasis on ontological freedom toward a historical materialist emphasis on concrete freedom, rejecting deontology’s prioritization of morality over politics and consequentialism’s prioritization of decision over action and of predicted over actual consequences. Because actions gain ethical value only through their material impact, and their historical value varies with human projects, our principal obligation is not correct decision but continual correction of our actions’ real consequences for human freedom.