Week 15 Study Questions

If you haven't already, be sure to read the previous post for background information about the Simon de Beauvoir novel that we'll be reading an excerpt from next week.

Tuesday (CR 221-27, Simone de Beauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity)

1. [Note that this question is from last week] What does Beauvoir mean when she says, "No action can be generated for man without its being immediately generated against men"? How does she criticize those who would use this as an excuse for oppression, or for sacrificing the individual to the group?

2. According to Beauvoir, in our actions toward others, we should take the other's good as an "absolute end [or goal] of our action." However, "we are not authorized to decide this end a priori [in advance or without appeal to experience]." Be able to explain the meaning of this quotation, using one of more of her examples in your explanation (the suicide attempt, the drug addict, or the individual "living in a situation of falsehood").

3. On the question of the former Soviet Union, Beauvoir criticizes both the staunch supporters and staunch opponents of the USSR. What fallacies does she attribute to the arguments on each side?

4. How does she respond to the militant political view that the true hero will "blindly direct himself toward an uncontested goal," thus avoiding "the pitfalls of ambiguity"? What alternative view does she present--what is the proper method of ethical decision or the proper ideal to try to realize in political action?

Thursday (CR 228-50, Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others)

1. Jean Blomart worries that his friends will consider him a coward for taking a non-combat post in Paris, even though Helene arranged it against his will. He even seems to think that it might be true. Is he a coward? If he is, what should he do?

2. Why does Jean compare becoming a soldier once again to the "wonderful holidays" he experienced in childhood?

3. Jean's friend Gauthier defends his decision to continue writing and publishing his political newspaper under the control of the Nazis, saying he's just being "clear-headed." Is he right to do so? What would you do in his situation? Jean admits to himself that he's no better than Gauthier. Why?

4. When Helene's friend Denise criticizes her decision to accept a job in Berlin, Helene says it doesn't matter, since in time another system will replace the Nazis. To Denise's objection that what matters is the time in which we live, Helene replies: "It matters if we make it matter . . . It is we who decide. . . . Why should I decide if it's my personal fate that matters, or that of France, or of this century in which I happen to have been thrown?" What does she mean? Why does she later change her mind about the job in Berlin?