In this seminar Dr. Mary Townsend finds in the work of Simone de Beauvoir, especially The Ethics of Ambiguity, an underappreciated account of the adventurer. Using this figure to chart a course between the "serious man" and the nihilist, Dr. Townsend critically assesses the potential of Beauvoir's adventurer to reorient reflection around the idea of the common good.
The seminar is followed by a time of questions and discussion.
A video version of the seminar is available at https://youtu.be/RT6Hf9NnbDw
The seminar took place over Zoom on 4 November 2025, and was hosted by Christopher Watkin (Monash University), as part of the project "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". This seminar is an initiative of the Social Contract Research Network.
To be notified when future seminars, conversations and interviews are uploaded, you can subscribe to te SCRN YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw?sub_confirmation=1
The Social Contract Research Podcast