Pyrrhus and Cineas

Pyrrhus and Cineas (original title: Pyrrhus et Cinéas) is Simone de Beauvoir's first philosophical essay, written in 1943 and published in 1944, during the German occupation of France. Beauvoir takes as her starting point an episode attributed to the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus: his friend Cineas, a diplomat, asks what he will do once he has conquered his next empire. Pyrrhus replies that he will rest when the conquest is complete. Cineas then asks why he should not rest now, since rest is the outcome in any case. This question,