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

2. How does Beauvoir claim an individual can put himself on the plane of the universal and the infinite?

3. What three considerations an individual make before acting are abstract, according to Beauvoir?

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

5. How does Beauvoir define the present?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What are the two meanings that Beauvoir gives for the future?

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

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

5. How does Beauvoir define the Aesthetic Attitude?

6. What is the one solution that Beauvoir offers to the oppressed?

7. How does Beauvoir claim that we can best secure our personal freedom?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Beauvoir examines two meanings of the word "future". Examine the two meanings and Beauvoir's contexts for those two meanings and her criticisms against the way they are applied. Choose one of Beauvoir's meanings for "future" and detail how it shapes your attitude toward your projects and efforts to develop your free will.

Essay Topic 2

Examine Beauvoir's views on how science, art, technology (technics), and philosophy can either add to or detract from freedom. After the general examination of the four, choose one and detail how Beauvoir's points are proven in modern applications.

Essay Topic 3

Beauvoir suggests that, "a genuine man," rejects, "foreign absolutes," and instead strive, "to be right in his own eyes." Do you agree or disagree? Can freedom for all be achieved when everyone is striving, "to be right in his own eyes?" Explain your answer using evidence from history or current events. Give your analysis as to whether Beauvoir's position on this issue strengthens or diminishes her work.

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This section contains 766 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample