Mortimer J. Adler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mortimer J. Adler
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Adler while presiding over the Center for the Study of The Great Ideas
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Mortimer Jerome Adler
December 28, 1902 New York City, U.S.
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| Died | June 28, 2001 (aged 98) San Mateo, California, U.S.
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| Education | Columbia University (PhD) |
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Notable work
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Aristotle for Everybody, How to Read a Book, A Syntopicon |
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| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
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Main interests
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Philosophical theology, metaphysics, ethics |
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Influenced
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Mortimer Jerome Adler (born December 28, 1902 – died June 28, 2001) was an important American thinker. He was a philosopher, a teacher, and an author who wrote many popular books. He believed in the ideas of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas. Adler lived in several big cities like New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. He taught at famous universities and helped lead the Encyclopædia Britannica, a well-known encyclopedia. He also started the Institute for Philosophical Research.
Contents
Mortimer Adler's Life Story
How His Ideas Developed
As a teenager, Mortimer Adler worked for a newspaper and took night classes. During this time, he discovered the writings of great thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas. He saw these thinkers as his heroes.
Adler believed that some modern ideas were "philosophical mistakes." He wrote a book in 1985 called Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors in Modern Thought. He thought these errors started with philosophers like Descartes and David Hume. Adler tried to fix these mistakes by using ideas from the Aristotelian tradition.
Early Life in New York City
Mortimer Adler was born in Manhattan, New York City, on December 28, 1902. His parents were immigrants from Germany. At age 14, he left school to work for a newspaper, hoping to become a journalist.
Soon, he went back to school for writing classes at night. There, he found his passion for western philosophy. He later studied at Columbia University. Even though he didn't complete a swimming test needed for his degree (he got an honorary degree later), he stayed at Columbia. He became a teacher and earned a doctorate in psychology. His first book, Dialectic, was published in 1927.
Adler also worked with Scott Buchanan on the "Great Books" idea. This program encouraged people to read and discuss important classic texts.
Moving to Chicago
In 1930, Robert Maynard Hutchins, the new president of the University of Chicago, invited Adler to teach there. Adler became a professor of the philosophy of law. He was the first person without a law degree to join the law school faculty.
Adler's "Great Books" seminars inspired a businessman named Walter Paepcke to create the Aspen Institute. At Aspen, Adler taught philosophy to business leaders.
The Great Books and Beyond
Adler and Robert Hutchins together created the Great Books of the Western World program. They also started the Great Books Foundation. In 1952, Adler founded the Institute for Philosophical Research.
He was also a key person at Encyclopædia Britannica. He helped create the Syntopicon and the Propaedia, which are guides to knowledge. From 1974, he was the chairman of the Britannica board. He helped reorganize the entire encyclopedia for its fifteenth edition.
Adler also introduced the Paideia Proposal. This was a plan for schools to use guided reading and discussions of challenging books for students of all ages. He founded the Paideia Program based on this idea. Later, he co-founded the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas in Chicago.
Sharing Philosophy with Everyone
Mortimer Adler worked hard to make philosophy understandable for everyone. Some of his books, like How to Read a Book, became very popular. He also supported the idea of economic democracy, where more people can own parts of businesses.
His Views on Religion
Mortimer Adler grew up in a Jewish family that wasn't very religious. In his early twenties, he discovered the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, especially his Summa Theologica. Adler later said that studying theology became his highest philosophical interest.
He was a big fan of Aquinas's ideas and often wrote for Catholic journals. Many people thought he had become Catholic, but he didn't convert until much later in his life.
In 1980, Adler wrote a book called How to Think About God. In it, he said he considered himself a "pagan" (someone who doesn't follow a major religion). However, in 1984, he was baptized as an Episcopalian. He explained that he chose Christianity because its mysteries were "incomprehensible." He felt that if everything could be easily understood, it would just be another philosophy, not a divine revelation.
According to his friends, Adler was drawn to Catholicism for many years. He finally became a Roman Catholic in December 1999, just a few years before he passed away. This happened after his wife, Caroline, died in 1998. His friends said he had been "training to be" a Roman Catholic his whole life.
Mortimer Adler's Philosophy
Common Sense Ethics
Adler believed that Aristotle's book, Nicomachean Ethics, taught the "ethics of common sense." He thought it was the only moral philosophy that was practical and true. He felt it answered all the important questions about how we should live.
Mind and Body
Adler was a "moderate dualist." This is a complex idea, but in simple terms, he believed that the brain is necessary for thinking, but it's not enough on its own. He thought an "immaterial intellect" (something not physical) was also needed for deep thought. He argued that humans are different from animals in a very special way because of this.
Understanding Freedom
The words "freedom" and "free will" can be confusing. Adler's research group spent ten years studying the "idea of freedom." They found that there are three main types of freedom:
- Circumstantial freedom: This means being free from being forced or held back by outside things. For example, being free to go outside because no one is stopping you.
- Natural freedom: This is the freedom to make your own choices and plans. Adler believed everyone has this freedom naturally, no matter what their situation is.
- Acquired freedom: This is a deeper kind of freedom that you earn. It means being able to choose what you should choose, like being good, wise, or fair. You gain this freedom by developing good qualities.
Thinking About God
As Adler became more interested in religion, he explored how to think about God. In his 1981 book, How to Think About God, he tried to show that God is the "exnihilator" – meaning the creator of something from nothing. He stressed that even with this idea, God's existence cannot be fully proven, but it can be shown to be true "beyond a reasonable doubt."
Adler believed that religion and theology should be open to change and growth. He felt that the idea of God has always been, and still is, very important to many people.
Personal Life
Mortimer Adler was married twice and had four children. He first married Helen Boynton in 1927. They adopted two children, Mark and Michael, and later divorced in 1960. In 1963, Adler married Caroline Pring. They had two sons, Douglas and Philip.
Awards and Honors
- 1985, Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement
- 1993, Aspen Hall of Fame
Key Published Works
- Dialectic (1927)
- How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education (1940)
- The Capitalist Manifesto (1958, with Louis O. Kelso)
- The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Controversies about Freedom (1961)
- The Conditions of Philosophy: Its Checkered Past, Its Present Disorder, and Its Future Promise (1965)
- Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy (1978)
- How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan (1980)
- Six Great Ideas: Truth–Goodness–Beauty–Liberty–Equality–Justice (1981)
- The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto (1982)
- Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors In Modern Thought (1985)
- Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth (1990)
Books He Edited
- Great Books of the Western World (1952, 52 volumes)
- A Syntopicon: An Index to The Great Ideas (1952, 2 volumes)
- Propædia: Outline of Knowledge and Guide to The New Encyclopædia Britannica 15th Edition (1974)
See also
In Spanish: Mortimer Adler para niños
- List of American philosophers
- Educational perennialism
