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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3, The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity, Sections 4-5, The Present and the Future, Ambiguity and Conclusion.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Beauvoir assert to be the consequences of a world in which every man has to do with other men?
(a) The world is subject to the will of men who seek either freedom or oppression.
(b) The world is a human world in which each object is penetrated with human meanings.
(c) Every man must accept his ambiguity and will his freedom.
(d) Every man must recognize that his freedom is only secured as long as no one attempts to oppress others.

2. What type of man does Beauvoir identify as being nihilistic?
(a) The man who disputes the seriousness of another man's goals to the point that his goals are regarded as generally useless as a consequence.
(b) The point at which the serious man realizes the pursuit of his goals have been made at the expense of his freedom.
(c) The man who sees the futility of his goals and realizes he has missed the benefits of his ambiguity.
(d) When a man who faces failure becomes conscious of being unable to be anything and decides to be nothing.

3. How does Beauvoir claim that a spontaneous action, or flight, can be converted into will?
(a) By accepting the consequences of the spontaneous act.
(b) By evaluating the usefulness of the spontaneous act.
(c) By recognizing the effects of the spontaneous act on the physical world.
(d) By assuming the project positively.

4. How does Beauvoir claim that the child develops the conviction of good and evil?
(a) Through joy and disappointment.
(b) Through punishments, prizes, words of praise or blame.
(c) Through pain and healing.
(d) Through observation and learning.

5. What type of individual does Beauvoir claim adopts the Aesthetic Attitude?
(a) One who only contemplates his freedom while he is among others.
(b) One who claims to have no other relation with the world than that of detached contemplation.
(c) One who detaches freedom from will.
(d) One who uses his freedom to guide others to consider the world in detached contemplation.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Beauvoir identify as the irony of the serious man?

2. What does Beauvoir require for an individual to genuinely desire an end in the present?

3. What does Beauvoir claim to be the meaning and substance of all action?

4. What is a principle that Beauvoir states that an ethics of ambiguity will refuse to deny a priori?

5. How does Beauvoir explain that technics (technology) is not objectively justified?

(see the answer key)

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