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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does the author propose might come to the young man for advice?
(a) A brilliant youth, even younger than he.
(b) A brazenly licentious priest.
(c) The author proposes no one would come to the young man for advice.
(d) A coy milkmaid.

2. What phrase does the young man fling about according to the author?
(a) "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
(b) "It is not the given that is great, but the acquired."
(c) "It takes one to know one."
(d) "Too many cooks spoil the broth."

3. What is the risk in despairing over something particular according to the author?
(a) That one will be distracted from the joy of sunsets.
(b) That one will forget one's obligation to one's wife.
(c) That one's despair will be totally overwhelming.
(d) That one's despair will not be authentic and deep.

4. What "humble view" does the author say he presents to the young man?
(a) What it is to hate and destroy.
(b) What it is to study and perform.
(c) What it is to prepare and debate.
(d) What it is to choose and repent.

5. The author accuses the young man of hardening his mind to what?
(a) To interpret all existence in aesthetic categories.
(b) The existence of right and wrong.
(c) Lusting after women day and night.
(d) Frittering away his intellectual life.

6. What does the author say is the young man's position in relation to philosophy?
(a) The young man's position is anathema to philosophy.
(b) The young man's position is friendly to philosophy.
(c) The young man's position is mildly at odds with philosophy.
(d) The young man's position is indifferent to philosophy.

7. How does the concept the author mentions act on him?
(a) It makes him quite angry.
(b) It spurs his will to action.
(c) It fills his soul with peace.
(d) It makes him exceedingly earnest.

8. What does the author say the young man's attitude toward ethics is?
(a) The author says the young man finds ethics amusing.
(b) The author says the young man finds ethics fascinating.
(c) The author says the young man despises ethics.
(d) The author says the young man is not ordinarily disdainful of ethics.

9. Why does the author say the young man is afraid of continuity?
(a) Because he had a frightening experience with continuity as a chil
(b) Because it deprives him of the opportunity to deceive himself.
(c) Because the young man is afraid of everything.
(d) Because he enjoys variety.

10. What does the author say is another way to articulate the importance of living aesthetically?
(a) One must enjoy life.
(b) One must marry well.
(c) One must find the truth.
(d) One must destroy life.

11. What path does nature take according to the author?
(a) The hilliest path.
(b) The shortest path.
(c) The longest path.
(d) The widest path.

12. What does the author say are the spheres proper to thought?
(a) History.
(b) Nature.
(c) Logic.
(d) All of these.

13. What does the author claim the aesthetic is?
(a) The aesthetic is a mystery that is fundamentally unknowable.
(b) The aesthetic is that by which a person spontaneously is what he is.
(c) The aesthetic is that by which a person becomes what he becomes.
(d) The aesthetic is that by which a person spontaneously arouses the essence of someone else.

14. If the the young man fails his wife, who does the author say will punish him?
(a) The author says the Danish marriage police will punish the young man.
(b) The author says the state will punish the young man.
(c) The author says the young man will punish himself.
(d) The author says his wife will punish the young man.

15. About what emperor does the author go on at length?
(a) Constantine.
(b) Nero.
(c) Augustus Caesar.
(d) Julius Caesar.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what does the author say the young man is prolific?

2. What is the married man's most dangerous enemy according to the author?

3. The author asserts that making a good choice does not depend so much on deliberation as on what?

4. What is a moment that is more significant than everything else in the entire world according to the author?

5. If one can "lose the whole world" without damaging one's soul, the author of the letter asserts, then what must "one's soul" prove to be?

(see the answer keys)

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