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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. How do ethics of ambiguity avoid being solipsistic?

4. What are the four items that Beauvoir identifies as the "indefinite conquests of existence over being"?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Beauvoir characterize the world at the beginning of Section III?

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. What does Beauvoir mean with the phrase "Antinomies of Action"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Beauvoir comments extensively on the "sub-man". Define what Beauvoir's term, "sub-man," what causes an individual to take that station, and whether or not you see it as a common condition in modern society. Make your recommendations as to how an individual can move from this condition.

Essay Topic 2

Beauvoir connects projects, creativity and time as elements that can help man develop free will. Show Beauvoir relates the three to each other to prove her point. Use life applications to prove Beauvoir's assertions.

Essay Topic 3

Does Beauvoir consider the source of oppression to be individuals or a natural state that people accept and use for their own purposes. Explain your answer with support from "The Ethics of Ambiguity" and at least one example from history or current events.

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