Choosing a way of life › Reading the alternatives without reducing them

The book's literary form leaves a task for its reader. One must identify a speaker before deciding what a sentence is doing. One must examine an argument without assuming that its location in the second part makes it Kierkegaard's final verdict. The arrangement asks for judgment rather than replacing it.

This does not mean the alternatives are interchangeable. The judge argues energetically that his account is better. A's resourcefulness poses a real challenge to a shallow defense of duty. Reading both voices carefully allows the conflict to retain its force without announcing a neutral proof that neither could contest.

For a first reading, compare “Crop Rotation” with the judge's discussion of ethical choice. Ask what each account takes a person to be responsible for. Then return to the diary to examine how another person's standpoint is treated. The concluding sermon introduces a further question about the grounds of self-assessment.

The difference between possessing possibilities and assuming a life becomes clearer through these comparisons. The book does not eliminate the need to think before acting. It makes us examine whether thought is helping us answer for our conduct or becoming the way we postpone that task. That question survives even when we reject particular answers offered by its speakers.