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

2. What does Beauvoir claim to be necessary to the desire for the slave to become conscious of his servitude?
(a) For the tyrant to leave the Aesthetic Attitude and accept the oppression he is bringing to others.
(b) For the individual to break through the denial of the slave with a revolt against the tyrant.
(c) For the individual who wants to make the slave of his position to avoid becoming a tyrant.
(d) For the individual to accept oppression for the sake of demonstrating how the individual can will their freedom.

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

4. How does Beauvoir summarize Hegel's view of the future?
(a) The future is organic because it is built on the lives and sacrifices of the past.
(b) The future will only begin when the socialist state ends prehistory and begins real history.
(c) The future is not stationary because the mind is restless and the struggle for the future never ceases.
(d) The future can only be affected if one accepts the validity of the projects they take as contributing to it.

5. Of what does Beauvoir accuse political parties in their effort to control the ambiguity of the human condition?
(a) Creating conflicts.
(b) Glorifying war.
(c) Making contradictory statements to appeal to all people.
(d) Abuse of language.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Beauvoir suggest that Christian charity, Epicurean cult of friendship, and Kantian moralism share the same point of views?

2. What does Beauvoir claim to be the only solution for those who are oppressed?

3. According to Beauvoir, upon what do politicians rely to sustain their influence over individuals?

4. What knowledge comes to the man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires and real will according to Beauvoir?

5. What does Beauvoir mean when she refers to "The Antinomies of Action"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Beauvoir relate death to life?

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

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

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

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

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

7. How does Beauvoir dispute the idea that individual freedom does not lead to anarchy?

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

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

10. Why does Beauvoir write that the only way way that the oppressed can fulfill his freedom is through revolt?

(see the answer keys)

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