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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3, The Positive Aspect of Ambiguity, Sections 4-5, The Present and the Future, Ambiguity and Conclusion.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Beauvoir identify as the irony of the serious man?
(a) He claims that he freely chose his goals, but they are extensions of the structures that formed his childhood.
(b) He considers his goals to be serious whereas the free man considers them to be trivial.
(c) He pursues his serious goals but finds them to be insufficient once they are achieved.
(d) He defends the seriousness of his goals while disputing the seriousness of the goals of others.

2. In what way does Beauvoir consider nihilistic thinking to be right?
(a) In realizing that peace is punctuated by oppression and revolution.
(b) In thinking that the world possesses no justification and that he himself is nothing.
(c) In understanding the future will be marked by violence.
(d) In understanding the obstacles that come from a complex world.

3. How does Beauvoir claim that a slave can exercise freedom?
(a) By using their influence over other slaves to overthrow the slave owner.
(b) By remaining ignorant of the consciousness of his slavery.
(c) By showing expertise in a particular field to make his existence more valuable to the slave owner.
(d) By creating a world of freedom in their minds.

4. How does Beauvoir suggest a past accomplishment can be made relevant in the present?
(a) By keeping a record of all accomplishments to reflect upon those experiences with every decision.
(b) By comparing present acts to the acts of the past.
(c) By ceaselessly returning to it and justify it as part of the project with which the individual is currently involved.
(d) By tracing the affects of the act from the past through to the present.

5. How does Beauvoir define the present?
(a) The present is the point at which the will meets freedom.
(b) The present is not a potential past, it is the moment of choice and action.
(c) The present is the moment in which thought meets matter.
(d) The present is when the Aesthetic Attitude meets its most significant challenge.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Beauvoir suggest to be the motivation of those who adopt the Aesthetic Attitude?

2. What possibility does Beauvoir claim the fundamental ambiguity of the human condition opens to men?

3. What does Beauvoir claim to be the choice that comes to a young man after a long crisis?

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

5. What does Beauvoir note to be the objection of oppressors who are facing overthrow for the cause of freedom?

(see the answer key)

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