Books&Reading-InMemoryofMortimerAdler
Dolores
He was in his late nineties.
A search found:
Adler, Mortimer Jerome, born 1902, American educator and philosopher whose
numerous published works include How to Read a Book (1940) and The Conditions
of Philosophy (1965).
I searched for some quotes and found the following:
"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."
-Mortimer Adler
"In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get
through, but rather how many can get through to you."
-Morimer Adler
---Dolores
BooRadley Moments
Subject: Mortimer J Adler
========
Message-ID: <20010629083020...@ng-cp1.aol.com>
Date: 29 Jun 2001 12:30:20 GMT
--------
SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) - Mortimer J. Adler, a high school dropout who
went on to become an educational theorist, a father of the Great Books
program and the world's highest paid philosopher, died Thursday. He
was 98.
As an author and editor, Adler built a publishing and symposium empire
on an unlikely foundation: the philosophic system of Aristotle and St.
Thomas Aquinas.
That system influenced his work as compiler of the Great Books of the
Western World and as editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Earlier,
in the 1930s, it was the underlying theme of the educational reforms
Adler and his colleagues carried out at the University of Chicago
under the leadership of then-president Robert Maynard Hutchins.
In an age of relativism and multiculturalism, Adler championed what he
viewed as universal values and the Western tradition. His heroes -
Aristotle, Aquinas, John Locke and John Stuart Mill - were assailed as
irrelevant by student activists in the 1960s and subjected to
"politically correct'' attack in later decades.
Adler rejected such 20th century movements as existentialism, general
semantics, structuralism and deconstructionism, and disdained most
19th century philosophy as well.
Adler had been a protege of Professor John Erskine, pioneer of the
Great Books concept. He joined Erskine in teaching the seminars from
1923 until 1929, when Hutchins summoned him to the University of
Chicago.
Adler left the university in 1952 to direct the Institute for
Philosophical Research, but he retained his connection with
Encyclopaedia Britannica. In that year, the first edition of
Britannica's Great Books of the Western World appeared. It
incorporated the Syntopicon, Adler's codification of 102 "great
ideas'' culled from the Great Books' 74 authors.
He also coordinated production of The New Encyclopaedia Britannica,
which appeared in 1974, when he became chairman of Britannica's board
of editors.
========
Message-ID: <7k3rjto052ftcdqi4...@4ax.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 18:59:08 +1000
--------
... I am particularly grateful to the man for a book he co-authored:
"How To Read A Book".
Despite its simplistic title, this fine work contains many tools and
shortcuts for study. It has saved me a lot of unnecessary reading on
research projects.
========
Message-ID: <3b3db479...@news.uswest.net>
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 11:16:45 GMT
--------
... My personal favorite of his works is "Seven Great Ideas". I
always thought it was a thought-provoking exercise to examine what is
really meant by words like justice, beauty, truth, etc.
I also remember him from his appearances on "Firing Line" and "The
Tomorrow Show" back in the 70s.
========
Message-ID: <9hmbfi$3bt$1...@saltmine.radix.net>
Date: 1 Jul 2001 01:12:18 -0400
--------
... I have a book my him named "Six Great Ideas". Was "Seven Great
Ideas" a sequel? Did he find a new one?
Or is "Six Great Ideas" the newer book? Perhaps one of the original
seven turned out to be not such a great idea after all?
The six great ideas in "Six Great Ideas" are:
1. Truth
2. Good and Evil
3. Aesthetics
4. Liberty
5. Equality
6. Justice
========
Message-ID: <3b3c7a95...@news.uswest.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 13:00:41 GMT
--------
... Despite the fact that Adler would find all expressions of grief to
be futile and fallacious, one cannot help but feel a sense of loss for
the passing of this great and noble mind. His kind of renaissance man
will be increasingly scarce in the technocratic world of the future,
and his humanitarian and liberal (in the philosophical sense of the
word) spirit will be only a dim memory.
Fortunately, his legacy will continue in the great books program, at
least for a while.
SteveMR200
wrote:
>-Mortimer Adler
Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live
like ants instead of like men.
--Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001)
(Quoted in _Saturday Review_ [November 22, 1958])
If you are reading in order to become a better reader,
you cannot read just any book or article. You will not
improve as a reader if all you read are books that are
well within your capacity. You must tackle books that
are beyond you, or, as we have said, books that are over
your head. Only books of that sort will make you stretch
your mind.
--Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001)
_How to Read a Book_ [1940], "Reading and the Growth
of the Mind"
--
Steve
SteveMR200
<3dl1kt4p9klram3gp...@4ax.com>:
>On Sun, 1 Jul 2001 17:42:18 -0400, "Dolores" <tt...@capital.net>
>wrote:
>
>>I just heard on VPR/NPR radio that Mortimer Adler has died.
>>He was in his late nineties.
>>A search found:
>>Adler, Mortimer Jerome, born 1902, American educator and philosopher
>>whose numerous published works include How to Read a Book (1940) and
>>The Conditions of Philosophy (1965).
>>
>> I searched for some quotes and found the following:
>>
>>"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."
>>-Mortimer Adler
>>
>>"In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you
>>can get through, but rather how many can get through to you."
>>-Mortimer Adler
>
>
>If you are reading in order to become a better reader,
>you cannot read just any book or article. You will not
>improve as a reader if all you read are books that are
>well within your capacity. You must tackle books that
>are beyond you, or, as we have said, books that are over
>your head. Only books of that sort will make you stretch
>your mind.
> --Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001)
> _How to Read a Book_ [1940], "Reading and the Growth
> of the Mind"
Linda taught him to read. With a piece of charcoal
she drew pictures on the wall--an animal sitting
down, a baby inside a bottle; then she wrote
letters.
THE CAT IS ON THE MAT. THE TOT IS IN THE POT.
He learned quickly and easily. When he knew how to
read all the words she wrote on the wall, Linda
opened her big wooden box and pulled out from under
those funny little red trousers she never wore a
thin little book.
He had often seen it before. "When you're bigger,"
she had said, "you can read it." Well, now he was
big enough. He was proud.
"I'm afraid you won't find it very exciting," she
said. "But it's the only thing I have."
She sighed. "If only you could see the lovely
reading machines we used to have in London!"
He began reading:
"The Chemical and Bacteriological Conditioning
of the Embryo. Practical Instructions for Beta
Embryo-Store Workers."
It took him a quarter of an hour to read the title
alone. He threw the book on the floor.
"Beastly, beastly book!" he said, and began to cry.
--Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
_Brave New World_ [1932], Chapter 8
--
Steve