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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. What notion does Branden attempt to refute in his essay, "Isn't Everyone Selfish"?
(a) That selfishness is cruel and wrong.
(b) That not all people are selfish.
(c) That selfishness is the right way.
(d) That everyone is selfish.

2. According to Ayn Rand, one must pass moral judgment in order to live what kind of life?
(a) Good.
(b) Rational.
(c) Irrational.
(d) Evil.

3. Rand believes that because of altruism, what is the only reason people help others?
(a) Obligation.
(b) Public Recognition.
(c) Guilt.
(d) Fame.

4. What is a person considered to be who attempts to find the morally good in a given situation but acts incorrectly by honest mistake?
(a) Pink.
(b) White.
(c) Black.
(d) Gray.

5. What year did Nathaniel Branden write his essay, "Isn't Everyone Selfish?"
(a) 1964.
(b) 1962.
(c) 1961.
(d) 1963.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year did Ayn Rand write, "How Does One Lead a Rational Life in an Irrational Society?"

2. Finish the sentence based upon Rand's theory: One must achieve interests by her own efforts only and not at the expense of another's ______.

3. Rand states that judgment is a ______ action to commit.

4. According to Rand, what are ideas of mysticism and morality based upon?

5. Complete the sentence. A _________ person's desire for pleasure is the desire to escape reality.

Short Essay Questions

1. According to Branden, what are the avenues where one would find pleasure, and why can one find pleasure in such avenues?

2. Explain Rand's idea of the four considerations of a rational man's thought and their function.

3. What is Branden's purpose in writing the essay, "Isn't Everyone Selfish?"

4. Describe what Rand states in "The Objectivist Ethics" that philosophers and scientists have never been able to do?

5. What commonly upheld principle does Rand deem evil in Western Society as stated in her essay on living a rational life?

6. What are Rand's thoughts on human error?

7. How does altruism fit into Branden's essay, "Isn't Everyone Selfish?"

8. How must one first begin to identify what is gray, according to Ayn Rand?

9. In "Isn't Everyone Selfish?", how does Branden describe the process upon which men act in their own self interest?

10. What are Branden's thoughts on anxiety and guilt as stated in his essay regarding Mental Health and Mysticism?

(see the answer keys)

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