1 The existentialist claim that "existence precedes essence" means:
Correct. For existentialists there is no human nature fixed in advance. We exist first and then make ourselves what we are through our choices.
Existentialism denies that human beings come with a predetermined nature or purpose. Ask what comes first and what is made afterward.
2 When de Beauvoir uses the term "ambiguity" to describe the human condition, she means:
Correct. For de Beauvoir we are ambiguous because we are both: free consciousness that transcends any situation, and embodied, situated beings shaped by conditions we did not choose.
De Beauvoir's ambiguity is not vagueness or moral uncertainty. Ask what two sides of the human condition she holds together.
3 De Beauvoir argues that freedom cannot be escaped. By this she means:
Correct. There is no neutral position outside freedom. Refusing to choose, or drifting, is itself a choice we are responsible for.
De Beauvoir does not mean that freedom is guaranteed or that we are determined. Ask what she says about refusing to choose.
4 De Beauvoir's concept of "bad faith" refers to:
Correct. Bad faith is the flight from freedom: pretending that our situation, role, or nature dictates what we do, so that we are not responsible for it.
In this tradition bad faith is not ordinary dishonesty. It is a kind of self-deception about something specific. Ask what is being denied.
5 De Beauvoir argues that the ethical task is to "assume" one's freedom. She means:
Correct. To assume freedom is to take it up honestly, owning the weight and responsibility of one's choices instead of fleeing into bad faith.
'Assume' here means taking something up and owning it, not presupposing it. Ask what de Beauvoir thinks the ethical person does with their freedom.
6 De Beauvoir's "sub-man" is characterized by:
Correct. The sub-man flees freedom through apathy. He refuses to engage with anything, which leaves him available to be swept up by whatever movement offers him a role.
Each inauthentic attitude evades freedom in its own way. Ask which one does so by passivity and refusal to engage.
7 De Beauvoir argues that the "serious man" represents a form of bad faith because:
Correct. The serious man makes some external absolute, a Cause, Party, or Nation, the source of all value and loses himself in it. He treats the cause, not himself, as responsible for what he does.
The serious man's problem is not lack of commitment. Ask what he does with his freedom when he gives himself over to a cause.
8 De Beauvoir's "nihilist" attitude emerges from:
Correct. The nihilist is a disappointed serious man. When his absolute collapses, he concludes that nothing has value and turns disillusionment into a pose of indifference.
De Beauvoir traces nihilism to a specific experience, not a philosophical argument. Ask which earlier attitude it grows out of.
9 What do all five inauthentic attitudes (sub-man, serious man, nihilist, adventurer, passionate man) have in common, according to de Beauvoir?
Correct. All five attitudes evade the full acknowledgment of freedom. Some deny it, some dissolve it into an object, and some exercise it without engaging what it is for.
Look for what unites the sub-man, the serious man, the nihilist, the adventurer, and the passionate man. Ask what each one fails to face.
10 The "adventurer" attitude, in de Beauvoir's typology, fails because:
Correct. The adventurer loves action and conquest for their own sake but is indifferent to what they serve. His freedom never reaches out to the freedom of others, so it stays shallow and self-enclosed.
The adventurer is not over-committed. If anything, the reverse. Ask what is missing from a freedom pursued only for its own sake.