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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 is the paradox with which Beauvoir closes Chapter One?

2. What does Beauvoir claim to be the relationship between the serious and nihilism?

3. How does Beauvoir explain that the serious man becomes a dangerous tyrant?

4. What does Beauvoir claim matters to the serious man?

5. What does Beauvoir define as the drama of original choice?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Beauvoir claim that man can disclose being?

2. What are two descriptions that Beauvoir gives to man at the beginning of Part I, Ambiguity and Freedom?

3. To what does Beauvoir credit the development of many different philosophical world views?

4. How does Beauvoir explain that nihilism becomes the desire for power?

5. What type of adults does Beauvoir claim stays in an infantile world?

6. How does Beauvoir explain that willing bad is possible?

7. According to Beauvoir, how does man cast himself into the world?

8. Upon what basis does Beauvoir suggest that a man decides upon what he wants to be?

9. How does Beauvoir define the child's world?

10. What faces the adolescent who is being liberated from the infantile world, according to Beauvoir?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of Chapter Three, Beauvoir examines the role of politics in either establishing and protecting freedom or leading to tyranny. Choose one of Beauvoir's explanations of the role of either politics or violence leading to either freedom or tyranny and give your support or opposition to her view. Support your position with language from "The Ethics of Ambiguity" or from outside sources.

Essay Topic 2

Beauvoir identifies adults who conduct themselves as, "grown up children." Identify the conditions Beauvoir notes that places an individual in this condition, provide evidence from history or current events that this condition has manifested itself on a broad basis, and detail how the individuals in that condition were broken from it.

Essay Topic 3

Define Beauvoir's term, "serious man." What are the positive and negative aspects of this condition, and how does an individual move into it? Does modern society encourage individuals to accept this condition? How does the modern social view of the "serious man" affect the quality of freedom for communities, cultures, and nations?

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