Of all the writing that emerged from the existentialist movement, Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking study of women will probably have the most extensive and enduring impact. It is at once a work of anthropology and sociology, of biology and psychoanalysis, from the pen of a writer and novelist of penetrating imaginative power. THE SECOND SEX stands, four decades after its first appearance, as the first landmark in the modern feminist upsurge that has transformed perceptions of the social relationship of man and womankind in our time.

本书收录两篇随笔，是波伏瓦存在主义理论入门之作。《模糊性的道德》阐述了存在的双重性，并对人类的生存状况作了深刻的思考。在萨特的存在主义影响下，波伏瓦开始研读黑格尔、克尔恺郭尔、康德等哲学先驱的著作，逐步形成了自己独到的存在主义哲学观，提出了“存在的模糊性”的观念。她主张承担自身的存在，争取自由，让我们的存在处于向无限性开放的有限性中。正像那个古老的谚语所说的那样：“不管结果怎样，做你该做的事。”《皮洛士和齐纳斯》一文讨论人类行动的尺度、行动的目的和价值。