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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do the author's two Englishmen travel to Arabia?
(a) To smoke tobacco.
(b) To visit Mecca.
(c) To purchase horses.
(d) To discuss philosophy.

2. In what does the author say the young man is prolific?
(a) In writing volumes of poetry.
(b) In composing symphonies.
(c) In coining phrases of his favorite conclusions.
(d) In writing novels.

3. What does the author assert is more important than cultivating one's mind?
(a) Developing one's personality.
(b) Traveling widely.
(c) Cultivating one's garden.
(d) Gathering wealth.

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

5. What does the author call a poet-existence?
(a) A drag.
(b) A delight.
(c) A sin.
(d) A sacrifice.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the ethical according to the author?

2. The author accuses the young man of hardening his mind to what?

3. What happens to choice if one admits meditation according to the author?

4. What does the author say are the spheres proper to thought?

5. What is the author's attitude toward scholarship?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the point of the author's story about the count and countess?

2. Explain how the author uses the metaphor of a ship captain to explain Either/Or.

3. What risk does the author say one runs when one despairs about something in particular?

4. What does the author say is more important than choosing the right thing?

5. Are any Either/Or choices absolute? Explain.

6. What does the author dislike about philosophy?

7. What does the author write about "the Moment"?

8. What are the advantages of the ethical theory of talent as opposed to the aesthetic theory of talent?

9. What does the author assert is the mystic's error?

10. Briefly describe what the author means by the term Either/Or.

(see the answer keys)

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