An Existential Ecofeminism and a Renewed Critical Theory of Nature: An Imagined Dialogue between Simone de Beauvoir and Jürgen Habermas

Simone de Beauvoir has been commonly criticized for separating women from nature and attempting to make women “like men”, as beings that dominate nature. I defend Beauvoir’s existential concept of freedom as a non-sovereign relationship with nature. I then use the existential model constructed from my defense of Beauvoir as a framework with which to critique and engage Jürgen Habermas’ 2001 intervention against liberal eugenics. My critique of Habermas is important because I would like to explore a renewed critical theory of nature from the perspective gained by an existential ecofeminism.