View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Beauvoir claim to be the only solution for those who are oppressed?
(a) Assume the Aesthetic Attitude and escape the turmoil of the world for an existence of contemplation.
(b) Deny the harmony of mankind by revolting against the tyrants.
(c) Avoid the negative consequences of oppression by producing as directed.
(d) Negate oppression by willing oneself free.

2. What contradiction does Beauvoir suggest will come to those who fight for a cause due to the complexity of the world?
(a) In order to win an urgent victory, one may be brought to sacrifice his principles.
(b) In order to win an urgent victory, one may be brought to leaving a valued friend.
(c) In order to win an urgent victory, one may be brought to face a humiliating defeat.
(d) In order to win an urgent victory, one may be brought to the point of fighting against valid causes.

3. According to Beauvoir, if every man is free:
(a) He cannot will himself free.
(b) He must work to free other men.
(c) He is free to oppress the freedom of others.
(d) His will must remain free.

4. How does Beauvoir suggest that Christian charity, Epicurean cult of friendship, and Kantian moralism share the same point of views?
(a) By recognizing the failures of their histories.
(b) By recognizing the limits of their moral laws.
(c) By making the individual the ends of which their actions must aim.
(d) By recognizing the similarities that define their ambiguity.

5. What does Beauvoir recognize as the paradox that faces a man who is willing to fight for a valid cause?
(a) Only sacrifice can lead to achievement.
(b) No action can be generated for man without its being immediately generated against men.
(c) Man can only assure better life by causing death to those who would destroy it.
(d) The only way a man can make an important gain is to sacrifice something equally important.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the challenge for those who suffer more than one oppressor, what answer does Beauvoir offer?

2. What are the two meanings that Beauvoir gives to the word future.

3. When an individual aims at a goal that will be achieved beyond his own death, what does Beauvoir claim the individual should expect from the time given to the goal?

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?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. What is the contradiction that Beauvoir states regarding the difficulty of living the in the modern age?

9. How does Beauvoir show that the complexity of the world affects those who are fighting for a cause?

10. How does Beauvoir relate death to life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,042 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample