Simone de Beauvoir on the Curse of Immortality

Abstract This paper identifies and analyzes the arguments against the desirability of immortality implicit in Beauvoir’s philosophical novel All Men Are Mortal. The main argument is based on the idea that an immortal life would necessarily lack four key values that make human life worth living: meaning, love, identity, and virtue. The novel contains four additional arguments, one regarding each specific value. I analyze and evaluate all five arguments and place them in the context of the ongoing debate over immortality’s desirability. I also identify connections between Beauvoir’s arguments and those of Bernard Williams, Martha Nussbaum, and Samuel Sheffler. Ultimately, I argue that Beauvoir’s arguments in All Men Are Mortal are original and plausible. As such, they can enrich the contemporary debate over the desirability of immortality. Understanding them also contributes to a better understanding of Beauvoir’s philosophy of death.