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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 Camus see as the one truly serious philosophical problem?

2. What has been the focus of don Juan's existence?

3. What was Sisyphus' attitude to the gods?

4. What attitude can overcome all fate?

5. What information do we have about Sisyphus in the underworld?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to the quotation from Nietzsche, what vital function is performed by art?

2. What is Camus' basic criticism of phenomenology?

3. In what ways is Sisyphus a rebel?

4. How does Camus describe the Church's treatment of heretics?

5. What is The Trial about?

6. Why does Camus claim that there can be no experience of death?

7. Why is the fame of a writer likely to endure and that of an actor not to do so?

8. What does Nietzsche mean when he says 'Great problems are in the street'?

9. What is Camus' attitude to Galileo?

10. How did Sisyphus attempt to test his wife's love?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare the ways in which Kafka's and Dostoevsky's heroes illustrate the idea of The Absurd. In your essay, you will need to show that you understand Camus' rationale for using these heroes as exemplars of his thought. Mention the ways in which the heroes are similar in their attitudes to the world and their fates, and ways in which they are different. Refer only to what Camus says about them. Do not use the novels themselves as reference material.

Essay Topic 2

What would Camus like the societies of North Africa and Europe to learn from each other and from Ancient Greece? In your answer, you should make extensive reference to Camus' essays Summer in Algiers, The Minotaur, Helen's Exile and Return to Tipasa. You should also consider what our own society might learn.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that deals thoughtfully with the following:

In an absurd world, is not philosophy itself absurd? If life has no meaning, why have learned people--over many centuries from Ancient Greece to the present--devoted so much time to discussing it? Might they not have been better occupied?

In other words, you will be demonstrating that philosophy is a necessary activity for mature humanity.

(see the answer keys)

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