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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Beauvoir identify as the worst thing to be said for violence?
(a) It forces us to sacrifice men who are in our way as well those who fight on our side -- or even ourselves.
(b) It begins cycles of violence motivated by revenge that removes freedom for all.
(c) It leads to our enslavement to tactics rather than thought.
(d) It breaks people out of the recognition of their ambiguity by defining absolute consequences for misuse of freedom.

2. What does Beauvoir claim to be the meaning and substance of all action?
(a) Existentialism.
(b) The future.
(c) Freedom.
(d) Ambiguity.

3. What knowledge comes to the man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires and real will according to Beauvoir?
(a) He has reached transcendence.
(b) He has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals.
(c) He has grasped his ambiguity.
(d) He knows freedom.

4. How does Beauvoir claim to be the only means by which the present can retrieve itself?
(a) Through politicians who deny obvious truth so as to delay the consequences of their present decisions.
(b) Through similar events through history.
(c) By holding with an existentialist who has adopted the Aesthetic Attitude.
(d) By transcending itself toward the permanence of future being.

5. At what point does Beauvoir declare the death of an individual is not a failure?
(a) When the cause for which he died preserves freedom for all.
(b) If his death leads to the victory of his cause.
(c) If the cause for which he died is carried on by his survivors.
(d) When it is integrated into a project which surpasses the limits of life.

6. What is a flaw that Beauvoir claims some people make about their present situation regarding the natures of human nature and the present?
(a) Some believe that since the present conflicts with the nature of thought, that morality has no purpose.
(b) Since no one can fully occupy the present, many obsess on either the past or on future things.
(c) Some serenely think that the present oppression has no importance, and that oppression will be wiped out by itself.
(d) Some serenely believe that the future is in the hands of a benevolent God, therefore they pursue no worthwhile projects in the present.

7. How does Beauvoir illustrate how ambiguity affected Christianity?
(a) She illustrated that the Reformation challenged the seriousness of the Catholic Church with the Christian Spirit.
(b) She showed how interpretation of scripture was replaced by researching scripture.
(c) She showed how poverty allowed a break from salvation through indulgences.
(d) She showed how works bound to the dead law were replaced with faith and charity.

8. What does Beauvoir claim is revealed through art?
(a) Art reveals that ambiguous principles of truth and beauty can occupy time and space.
(b) Art reveals the transitory as an absolute.
(c) Art reveals that aesthetic contemplation at some point must make contact with time and space.
(d) Art reveals the aesthetic qualities of the will of freedom.

9. How does Beauvoir claim that "The Ethics of Ambiguity" compare to the individualism of Christian ethics?
(a) Christian ethics dispenses salvation to the individual as the Ethics of Ambiguity depends on the individual accepting the nature of their ambiguity.
(b) Christian salvation is provided by an individual source as are the Ethics of Ambiguity.
(c) Both Christian ethics and the Ethics of Ambiguity have their greatest influence on individual practice.
(d) Both Christian ethics and the Ethics of Ambiguity depend upon individual devotion.

10. In the challenge for those who suffer more than one oppressor, what answer does Beauvoir offer?
(a) Overthrowing the oppressors is a matter of opportunity and efficiency.
(b) Only by generating full support of the masses could any of the oppressors be dispatched.
(c) The issue is moral, not political, and the moral consensus must be reached with at least one oppressor.
(d) Only by working with the least offensive of the oppressors could other oppressors be removed.

11. How does Beauvoir claim an individual can put himself on the plane of the universal and the infinite?
(a) By assuring the means and the ends justify each other.
(b) By taking goals that will transcend their lives.
(c) By considering the ambiguity of their decisions.
(d) By considering a system abstractly and theoretically.

12. What Beauvoir claim to happen to a democratic regime that defends itself by acts of oppression?
(a) It is pursuing political goals.
(b) It betrays its virtues.
(c) It faces the possibility of becoming oppressive.
(d) It is embracing the ambiguity of existence.

13. When does Beauvoir suggest an individual might adopt the Aesthetic Attitude?
(a) When he recognizes that his freedom is secured when he is not with others.
(b) During efforts of an individual to will themselves free.
(c) During times of oppression.
(d) During moments of discouragement and confusion.

14. What are projects according to Beauvoir?
(a) Activities which define history.
(b) Activities in which the individual works toward a goal.
(c) Activities in which an individual works to affect others.
(d) Activities in which the individual sacrifices freedom for achievement.

15. What are the two meanings that Beauvoir gives to the word future.
(a) Future is both a speculation and a target.
(b) It is the ambiguous condition of man which is lack of being as well as man's existence.
(c) Future is that which is yet to come, but is the substance of all projects.
(d) The future is never here, but man is always moving toward it.

Short Answer Questions

1. What type of individual does Beauvoir claim adopts the Aesthetic Attitude?

2. What does Beauvoir claim an individual must do to conquer an enemy with violence?

3. What does Beauvoir report to be Marx' view of the future?

4. How does Beauvoir illustrate her example proves her point that, "festivals stop the movement of transcendence?"

5. What does Beauvoir claim to be necessary to the desire for the slave to become conscious of his servitude?

(see the answer keys)

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