Sir Muhammad Iqbal and Simone de Beauvoir's Philosophical Ideologies

Sir Muhammad Iqbal and Simone de Beauvoir
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Institutional Affiliation
Muhammad Iqbal and Simone de Beauvoir
Introduction
Both Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) argue that categories needed for thinking about persons are different from those we customarily use for thinking about material objects. Iqbal’s philosophical ideologies were articulated in a volume of lectures he gave at Madras, Hyderabad, and Aligarh between 1928 and 1929 collectively known as “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” which appeared later in 1934. De Beauvoir is also known for her essay "Pyrrhus and Cineas" which has remained a fundamental introduction to existentialism for philosophical students around the world. Today, people of all walks of life still make attempts to create meaning to their lives in a manner she examines through humanitarianism, religion, and scientific worldview or through focusing on the present times inspired by West's fascination laced with Eastern mysticism. In her essay, Beauvoir points out several questions that such points of view have been left unanswered. She concluded that people give meaning to their lives and will not claim to justify their life decisions mainly by appealing to external standards. Published literature has attempted to examine the relationship between the two scholars on ideologies such as the perception of human persons and material objects and controversial views on self-affirmation and/or ego. This essay explores the concept of perception of human persons and material objects and develops their differences by comparing and contrasting Iqbal and de Beauvoir’s views of the self or ego.
Perception of Human persons and material objects: Iqbal and de Beauvoir
Simon de Beauvoir’s understanding of feminine narcissism is in line with her more general account and that of Muhammad Iqbal about how the female character is created predicated on their situations. Women are often swallowed up in generality and imprisoned in unvarying social roles such as being a mother and a wife. The narcissist approach aims to revive a sense of a woman's unique abilities and facilitate her thinking as self even when such thoughts will not amount to anything. In the late eighteenth century, scholars such as Muhammad Iqbal were opposed to the West and political and ideological dominion. It is the time when debates about the impact of political institutions and colonial rule began raising questions on how women and men perceived themselves (Sevea, 2012). By taking refuge in the image of herself, a narcissistic woman will give in to the lures to abdicate responsibility for her becoming. According to Beauvoir, narcissism is indifferent to the outside world, monadically self-enclosed, and detached. However, Beauvoir argues that people need to understand the more original pursuit of being as inherently narcissistic in the fundamental sense of comprising a becoming a self and an ego. She claims that the world and the self-need to first exist perceive material objects (Zakin, 2017). In the “Second Sex” Beauvoir explores the culture of rape and patriarchy where women are perceived as material objects. This makes women vulnerable in the world where...