Fredrika Scarth is an instructor in the women's studies program at the University of Toronto.

Scarth's project entails a deep rethinking of embodiment and its relation to human freedom and she brilliantly succeeds in this rethinking, showing the relevance of Beauvoir's work for yet another generation of feminists.

• Chapter 1 PrefacePart 2 Rethinking the BodyChapter 3 I The Body in Political ThoughtChapter 4 II Simone de Beauvoir: a difficult legacyChapter 5 III Reading Simone de Beauvoir as a Political TheoristPart 6 Simone de Beauvoir: A Masculine MotherChapter 7 IntroductionChapter 8 I The Second Sex and "Simone de Beauvoir"Chapter 9 II The Second Sex and feminist historyChapter 10 III The Second Sex and feminist generationsChapter 11 IV A feminist mother with masculine values?Chapter 12 V The 'body problem' in The Second SexChapter 13 i) The Body as a Philosophical ProblemChapter 14 ii) 'Horror' of the BodyChapter 15 Conclusion: Beyond the First GenerationPart 16 Coming of Age: Ambiguity and the Freedom of OthersChapter 17 IntroductionChapter 18 I The Legacy Of Descartes: Subjectivity, Dualism And SolipsismChapter 19 II Beauvoir: Between Sartre And Merleau-PontyChapter 20 III Coming Of AgeChapter 21 IV Pyhrrus et Cinéas : Freedoms Are InterdependentChapter 22 V The Ethics of Ambiguity : Freedom and ConversionChapter 23 i) AmbiguityChapter 24 ii) The Desire to BeChapter 25 iii) Conversion and Coming of AgeChapter 26 iv) The Desire to Be and OthersChapter 27 v) The Desire to Disclose and Others: GenerosityChapter 28 ConclusionChapter 29 The Second Sex: Ambiguity and the BodyChapter 30 IntroductionChapter 31 I Beauvoir's critique of the masculine subjectChapter 32 i) Subject and OtherChapter 33 II: The Body and AmbiguityChapter 34 i) BiologyChapter 35 ii) MythologyChapter 36 iii) Lived ExperienceChapter 37 III: Modes of subjectivity: the temptations of mastery and the possibility of generosityChapter 38 i) Risking: Subjectivity as TranscendenceChapter 39 ii) Generosity: the Erotic as Risk and Gift of SelfChapter 40 ConclusionPart 41 Bodies at Risk: The Meanings of MaternityChapter 42 IntroductionChapter 43 I Beauvoir's Rhetorical WarChapter 44 II Free MaternityChapter 45 III Maternal subjects?Chapter 46 i) AmbiguityChapter 47 ii) CreativityChapter 48 iii) RiskChapter 49 ConclusionPart 50 Others Within: From Ethics to PoliticsChapter 51 I Refiguring SubjectivityChapter 52 II From Ethics to PoliticsChapter 53 i) Oppression and the body-as-fleshChapter 54 ii) Ethics and political liberation: the limits of liberationChapter 55 iii) Otherness withinChapter 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY214