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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What three considerations an individual make before acting are abstract, according to Beauvoir?
(a) Is the action ambiguous, is it mental, is it physical.
(b) Is the action possible, is it future-oriented, will it affect the self.
(c) Does the action lead to a goal, is it transcendent, will it affect the self.
(d) Is the action practical, is it good, is it bad.

2. Upon what does Beauvoir claim existence is based?
(a) Doing something.
(b) Goals.
(c) Freedom.
(d) Ambiguity.

3. What does Beauvoir mean when she writes, "...festivals whose role is to stop the movement of transcendence?"
(a) The end has been set up as an end.
(b) Festivals take people away from their future ambiguity.
(c) Festivals become both a means and an end to obscure the meaninglessness of both the present and the future.
(d) Festivals marking a movement's success obscure the means used to attain the success.

4. Why does Beauvoir claim one cannot assert that everything may be the object of contemplation?
(a) Because contemplation cannot exist without action.
(b) Because man never contemplates, he does.
(c) Because all action is combined with contemplation.
(d) Because the most notable events in history often take up action and forsake contemplation.

5. How does Beauvoir explain that an individual might be responsible for what they accept, but not guilty for acting upon it?
(a) An individual is responsible for what he learns in the world because he is responsible for his presence, but he is not guilty if his adhesion to beliefs is not a resignation of his freedom.
(b) An individual is responsible for what he learns because he can reject it, but he is not guilty for actions that come from his teaching.
(c) An individual is responsible for what he learns because he applies it, but he is not guilty because those who are affected have freedom to reject him.
(d) An individual is responsible for what he learns because he takes time to learn it, but he is not guilty for those who face unintended consequences.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What example did Beauvoir use to show how those who fight for a cause will come to accept certain contradictions.

3. How is Beauvoir asking each one to confirm their existence through the ethics of ambiguity?

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

5. How does Beauvoir claim that "The Ethics of Ambiguity" compare to the individualism of Christian ethics?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does ambiguity affect man when he faces failure and outrageousness, according to Beauvoir?

2. How does the individual who claims to have adopted the Aesthetic Attitude view historical work, according to Beauvoir?

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

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

5. What does Beauvoir identify as one of the chief objections leveled against existentialism with regard to freedom?

6. What is an example that Beauvoir uses to illustrate the "Antinomies of Action"?

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

8. What does Beauvoir claim prevents the future from being considered a harmonious development?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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