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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Beauvoir, what stops an individual's life from appearing as a negligible thing?

2. What does Beauvoir claim is revealed through art?

3. What possibility does Beauvoir claim the fundamental ambiguity of the human condition opens to men?

4. For whom do Beauvoir and Marx agree that the cause of freedom is most urgent?

5. What are the four items that Beauvoir identifies as the "indefinite conquests of existence over being"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Beauvoir claim that science can find truth?

2. How does Beauvoir represent the present in the face of the future?

3. What does Beauvoir mean when she says life id ambiguous?

4. How does Beauvoir define the Aesthetic Attitude?

5. Why does Beauvoir suggest man's life must always be an energetic striving?

6. What does Beauvoir claim becomes of those who adopt the Aesthetic Attitude?

7. How does Beauvoir claim living as an existentialist would affect men?

8. How does Beauvoir characterize freedom that is won through denying freedom to others?

9. How do societies attempt to help individuals hold onto the present according to Beauvoir?

10. What is the main criticism that Beauvoir makes of the Aesthetic Attitude?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Beauvoir begins Chapter Three by explaining the social aspect of freedom and then details the affect of the "Aesthetic Attitude" on it. Examine the "Aesthetic Attitude", whether or not it has a positive influence on freedom, and what sort of individual detailed by Beauvoir (the sub-man, the serious man, the adventurer, the nihilist, or the passionate man) is most likely to adopt this attitude.

Essay Topic 2

Define Beauvoir's term, "serious man." What are the positive and negative aspects of this condition, and how does an individual move into it? Does modern society encourage individuals to accept this condition? How does the modern social view of the "serious man" affect the quality of freedom for communities, cultures, and nations?

Essay Topic 3

Examine Beauvoir's views on how science, art, technology (technics), and philosophy can either add to or detract from freedom. After the general examination of the four, choose one and detail how Beauvoir's points are proven in modern applications.

(see the answer keys)

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