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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 does Beauvoir identify as the worst thing to be said for violence?

2. How does Beauvoir define the present?

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

4. How does Beauvoir explain that an individual might be responsible for what they accept, but not guilty for acting upon it?

5. If an individual does not inform a slave of his oppression, what does Beauvoir suggest of their position regarding tyranny?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the example of the conservative that Beauvoir uses to illustrate how tyrants will attempt to prevent revolt?

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

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

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

5. How does Beauvoir criticize the claim that life is absurdity?

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

7. How does Beauvoir relate death to life?

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

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

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

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.

Essay Topic 2

Are Beauvoir's writings on accepting the ambiguous nature of life practical today? Identify three principles she articulates in "The Ethics of Ambiguity" that you consider to be important to preserving freedom today. Write why you consider them to be important, what sort of affect the application of these principles on a broad basis would have on freedom and general society, and how you plan to implement these principles in your life.

Essay Topic 3

In the "Antinomies of Action", Beauvoir shows how actions can both work to achieve and work against a cause. Identify one of Beauvoir's examples of actions achieving a cause and working against a cause and prove Beauvoir's explanation with an example from history or current events.

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This section contains 916 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample