View source for Mortimer J. Adler

{{short description|American philosopher, author and educator (1902–2001)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| image             = Mortimer Adler.jpg
| alt               = Adler seated at a table in front of an open book
| caption           = Adler while presiding over the Center for the Study of The Great Ideas
| birth_name        = Mortimer Jerome Adler
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1902|12|28}}
| birth_place       = New York City, U.S.
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|2001|6|28|1902|12|28|mf=yes}}
| death_place       = [[San Mateo, California]], U.S.
| spouse            = {{Unbulleted list | {{marriage |Helen Leavenworth Boynton |1927 |1960 |end=div}} | {{marriage |Caroline Sage Pring |1963 |1998 |end=d.}} }}
| education         = [[Columbia University]] (PhD)
| notable_works     = ''[[Aristotle for Everybody]]'', ''[[How to Read a Book]]'', ''[[A Syntopicon]]''
| era               = [[20th-century philosophy]]
| region            = [[Western philosophy]]
| school_tradition  = {{Unbulleted list | [[Aristotelianism]]|[[Thomism]]}}
| main_interests    = [[Philosophical theology]], [[metaphysics]], ethics
}}
'''Mortimer Jerome Adler''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|d|l|ər}}; December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an [[American philosopher]], educator, [[encyclopedist]], popular author and [[lay theologian]]. As a philosopher he worked within the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] and [[Thomistic]] traditions. He taught at [[Columbia University]] and the [[University of Chicago]], served as chairman of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' board of editors, and founded the Institute for Philosophical Research.

He lived for long stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and [[San Mateo, California]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Biographical Sketch & Partial Bibliography of Dr. Mortimer J. Adler |access-date=April 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210175448/http://www.thegreatideas.org/adlerbio_short.html |url-status=dead |url=http://www.thegreatideas.org/adlerbio_short.html |archive-date=2014-12-10|website=Center for the Study of the Great Ideas}}.</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early life and education ===
Adler was born in [[Manhattan]], New York City, on December 28, 1902, to Jewish immigrants from Germany: Clarissa (Manheim), a schoolteacher, and Ignatz Adler, a jewelry salesman.<ref>[[Diane Ravitch]], ''Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform'', [[Simon and Schuster]] (2001), p. 298</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/mortimer-j-adler|title=Mortimer J. Adler &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> He dropped out of school at age 14 to become a [[copy boy]] for ''[[The New York Sun]]'', with the ultimate aspiration of becoming a journalist.<ref name=McInerny>{{Citation | first = Ralph | last = McInerny | url = http://radicalacademy.com/adlerarticlemcinerny2.htm | title = Memento Mortimer | publisher = Radical academy | url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101127005042/http://radicalacademy.com/adlerarticlemcinerny2.htm | archive-date = November 27, 2010 }}.</ref> Adler soon returned to school to take writing classes at night, where he discovered the [[Western philosophy|western philosophical tradition]]. After his early schooling and work, he went on to study at [[Columbia University]] and contributed to the student literary magazine, ''The Morningside,'' a poem "Choice" (in 1922 when Charles A. Wagner<ref>{{Citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE2DC1738F933A25751C1A960948260 | title = Charles A. Wagner | type = obituary | newspaper = The New York Times | date = December 10, 1986}}.</ref> was editor-in-chief and [[Whittaker Chambers]] an associate editor).<ref>{{Cite book |title = The Morningside |publisher = Columbia University Press |date=April–May 1922 | volume = x | number = 5–6 |page = 113 |isbn=0-300-08462-5}}</ref> Though he refused to take the required swimming test for a bachelor's degree (a matter that was rectified when Columbia gave him an honorary degree in 1983), he stayed at the university and eventually received an instructorship and finally a doctorate in [[psychology]].<ref>{{Citation | contribution-url = http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/mortimer_j_adler.html | title = Remarkable Columbians | publisher = Columbia U | contribution = Mortimer J Adler}}.</ref> While at Columbia University, Adler wrote his first book: ''Dialectic'', published in 1927.<ref name="Mortimer Adler">{{Citation | contribution-url = http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/nadams/educ692/Adler.html | contribution = Mortimer Adler | title = Faculty | publisher = Selu}}</ref>

Adler worked with [[Scott Buchanan]] at the [[Charles_Sprague_Smith#People's_Institute|People's Institute]] and then for many years on their respective [[Great books|Great Books]] efforts. (Buchanan was the founder of the Great Books program at [[St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)|St. John's College]]).<ref name="Adler">
{{cite book 
 | first = Mortimer J. 
 | last = Adler 
 | author-link = Mortimer J. Adler
 | title = Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography
 | publisher = Macmillan 
 | url = https://archive.org/details/philosopheratlar00mort
 | url-access = registration
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/philosopheratlar00mort/page/58 58]–59 (St. John's College), 87–88 (People's Institute), 92–93 (rift), 113–116 (1929 collaboration)
 | date = 1977
 |access-date = January 12, 2018}}</ref>
=== Intellectual development and philosophic evolution ===
While doing newspaper work and taking night classes during his adolescence, Adler encountered works of men he would come to call heroes: [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Thomas Aquinas]], [[John Locke]], [[John Stuart Mill]], and others, who "were assailed as irrelevant by [[Counterculture of the 1960s|student activists in the 1960s]] and subjected to '[[politically correct]]' attack in later decades."<ref name=word-gems>{{Citation|url=http://www.word-gems.com/philos.adler.died.html |title=Mortimer Adler: 1902–2001 – The Day Philosophy Died |publisher=Word gems |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410224053/http://www.word-gems.com/philos.adler.died.html |archive-date=2011-04-10}}</ref> His thought evolved toward the correction of what he considered "philosophical mistakes", as reflected in his 1985 book ''[[Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors in Modern Thought]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adler |first=Mortimer J. |url=https://archive.org/details/tenphilosophical0000adle_g0l0 |title=Ten philosophical mistakes |publisher=Macmillan |year=1985 |isbn=0025003305 |location=New York, N.Y.}}</ref> In Adler's view, these errors were introduced by [[Descartes]] on the continent and by Thomas Hobbes and [[David Hume]] in Britain, and were caused by a "culpable ignorance" about Aristotle by those who rejected the conclusions of dogmatic philosophy without acknowledging its sound classical premises. These modern errors were compounded and perpetuated, according to Adler, by [[Kant]] and the [[Idealism|idealists]] and [[Existentialism|existentialists]] on the one side, and by [[John Stuart Mill]], [[Jeremy Bentham]], and [[Bertrand Russell]] and the English [[Analytic philosophy|analytic tradition]] on the other. Adler held that he corrected these mistakes with reference to insights and distinctions drawn from the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] tradition.

=== Chicago ===
In 1930, [[Robert Maynard Hutchins|Robert Hutchins]], the newly appointed president of the [[University of Chicago]], whom Adler had befriended some years earlier, arranged for [[University of Chicago Law School|Chicago's law school]] to hire him as a professor of the [[philosophy of law]]. The philosophers at Chicago (who included [[James Hayden Tufts|James H. Tufts]], [[E.A. Burtt|E. A. Burtt]], and [[George Herbert Mead|George H. Mead]]) had "entertained grave doubts as to Dr. Adler's competence in the field [of philosophy]"<ref>{{Citation | title = A Statement from the Department of Philosophy | place = Chicago}}, quoted on {{Citation | page = 186 | first = Gary | last = Cook | title = George Herbert Mead: The Making of a Social Pragmatist | publisher = U. of Illinois Press | year = 1993}}.</ref> and resisted Adler's appointment to the university's Department of Philosophy.<ref>{{Citation | first = Charles | last = Van Doren | author-link = Charles Van Doren | url = http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/nov02/nov02_forum_adler.php | title = Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) | journal = Columbia Forum | edition = online | date = November 2002 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070609175739/http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/nov02/nov02_forum_adler.php | archive-date = June 9, 2007 }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation|first=Peter |last=Temes |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010703/ai_n13917760 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104012348/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010703/ai_n13917760 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2007 |title=Death of a Great Reader and Philosopher |place=Chicago |newspaper=Sun-Times |date=July 3, 2001 }}.</ref> Adler was the first "non-lawyer" to join the law school faculty.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.law.uchicago.edu/centennial/history/archive/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041026154116/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/centennial/history/archive/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 26, 2004 | title = Centennial Facts of the Day | publisher = U Chicago Law School | type = website }}.</ref> After the Great Books seminar inspired Chicago businessman and university trustee [[Walter Paepcke]] to found the [[Aspen Institute]], Adler taught philosophy to business executives there.<ref name = "Mortimer Adler" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of the Aspen Institute |url=https://www.aspeninstitute.org/about/heritage/ |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=The Aspen Institute |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Popular appeal ===
Adler long strove to bring philosophy to [[Commoner|the masses]], and some of his works (such as ''[[How to Read a Book]]'') became popular bestsellers. He was also an advocate of [[economic democracy]] and wrote an influential preface to [[Louis O. Kelso]]'s ''[[The Capitalist Manifesto (1958 book)|The Capitalist Manifesto]]''.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Louis O | last1 = Kelso | first2 = Mortimer J | last2 = Adler | year = 1958 | url = http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/pdf/cm-entire.pdf | title = The Capitalist Manifesto | publisher = Kelso institute }}.</ref> Adler was often aided in his thinking and writing by Arthur Rubin, an old friend from his Columbia undergraduate days. In his own words:
{{Blockquote | Unlike many of my contemporaries, I never write books for my fellow professors to read. I have no interest in the academic audience at all. I'm interested in Joe Doakes. A general audience can read any book I write – and they do.}}

[[Dwight Macdonald]] once criticized Adler's popular style by saying "Mr. Adler once wrote a book called ''How to Read a Book''. He should now read a book called ''How to Write a Book''."<ref>Rosenberg, Bernard. "Assaulting the American Mind." ''Dissent''. Spring 1988.</ref>

== Encyclopedia and educational reform ==
Adler and Hutchins went on to found the [[Great Books of the Western World]] program and the [[Great Books Foundation]]. In 1952, Adler founded and served as director of the Institute for Philosophical Research. He also served on the Board of Editors of ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', compiled its [[A Syntopicon|Syntopicon]] and later [[Propædia|Propaedia]], and succeeded Hutchins as its chairman from 1974. As the director of editorial planning for the fifteenth edition of ''Britannica'' from 1965, he was instrumental in the major reorganization of knowledge embodied in that edition.<ref>{{Citation |last=Adler |first=Mortimer J |title=A Guidebook to Learning: For the Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom |page=88 |year=1986 |place=New York |publisher=Macmillan}}.</ref> He introduced the [[Paideia Proposal]] which resulted in his founding the Paideia Program, a grade school curriculum centered around guided reading and discussion of difficult works (as judged for each grade). With Max Weismann, he founded the Center for the Study of the Great Ideas in 1990 in Chicago.

=== Great books of the Western canon === 
{{Excerpt|Great Books of the Western World|hat=no}}

== Religion and theology ==
Adler was born into a [[Irreligion|nonobservant]] Jewish family. In his early twenties, he discovered [[St. Thomas Aquinas]], and in particular the ''[[Summa Theologica]]''.<ref name="Redpath"/> Many years later, he wrote that its "intellectual austerity, integrity, precision and brilliance ... put the study of theology highest among all of my philosophical interests."<ref>{{Citation | first = Mortimer J | last = Adler | year = 1992 | title = A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large | place = New York | publisher = Macmillan | page = 264}}.</ref> An enthusiastic [[Thomist]], he was a frequent contributor to Catholic philosophical and educational journals, as well as a frequent speaker at Catholic institutions, so much so that some assumed he was a convert to Catholicism. But that was reserved for later.<ref name=Redpath>{{Citation | first = Peter | last = Redpath | url = http://www.salvationisfromthejews.com/adler.html | title = A Tribute to Mortimer J. Adler | publisher = Salvation is from the Jews}}.</ref>

In 1940, [[James T. Farrell]] called Adler "the leading American [[fellow-traveller]] of the Roman Catholic Church." What was true for Adler, Farrell said, was what was "postulated in the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church," and he "sang the same tune" as avowed Catholic philosophers like [[Étienne Gilson]], [[Jacques Maritain]], and [[Martin D'Arcy]]. He also greatly admired [[Henri Bergson]], the French Jewish philosopher and Nobel laureate, whose books the Catholic church had indexed as prohibited. Bergson refused to convert during the collaborationist Vichy regime, and despite the [[anti-semitic laws|Statute on Jews]] he instead restated his previous views and was thus stripped of all his previous posts and honors.<ref name=Redpath/> Farrell attributed Adler's delay in joining the Church to his being among those Christians who "wanted their cake and ... wanted to eat it too" and compared him to the Emperor [[Constantine I|Constantine]], who waited until he was on his deathbed to formally become a Catholic.<ref>{{Citation | first = James T | last = Farrell | orig-year = 1940 | contribution = Mortimer T. Adler: A Provincial Torquemada | type = reprint | title = The League of Frightened Philistines and Other Papers | place = New York | publisher = Vanguard Press | year = 1945 | pages = 106–109}}.</ref>

Adler took a long time to make up his mind about [[Theology|theological]] issues. When he wrote ''How to Think About God: A Guide for the Twentieth-Century Pagan'' in 1980, he claimed to consider himself the [[Paganism|pagan]] of the book's subtitle. In volume 51 of the ''[[Mars Hill Audio Journal]]'' (2001), Ken Myers includes his 1980 interview with Adler, conducted after ''How to Think About God'' was published. Myers reminisces, "During that interview, I asked him why he had never embraced the Christian faith himself. He explained that while he had been profoundly influenced by a number of Christian thinkers during his life, ... there were moral – not intellectual – obstacles to his conversion. He didn't explain any further."<ref name=BFP>{{Citation | url = http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=3028 | title = Mortimer Adler | date = December 31, 2023 | type = biography | publisher = Basic Famous People}}.</ref>

Myers notes that Adler finally "surrendered to the [[Hound of Heaven]]" and "made a confession of faith and was [[baptism|baptized]]" as an [[Episcopalian]] in 1984, only a few years after that interview. Offering insight into Adler's conversion, Myers quotes him from a subsequent 1990 article in ''Christianity'' magazine: "My chief reason for choosing Christianity was because the mysteries were incomprehensible. What's the point of revelation if we could figure it out ourselves? If it were wholly comprehensible, then it would just be another philosophy."<ref name=BFP />

According to his friend [[Deal Hudson]], Adler "had been attracted to Catholicism for many years" and "wanted to be a Roman Catholic, but issues like abortion and the resistance of his family and friends" kept him away. Many thought he was baptized as an Episcopalian rather than a Catholic solely because of his "wonderful – and ardently Episcopal – wife" Caroline. Hudson suggests it is no coincidence that it was only after her death in 1998 that he took the final step.<ref>{{Citation | first = Deal | last = Hudson | date = June 29, 2009 | url = http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/the-great-philosopher-who-became-catholic.html | title = The Great Philosopher Who Became Catholic | newspaper = Inside catholic | access-date = October 18, 2010 | archive-date = April 10, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110410121554/http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/the-great-philosopher-who-became-catholic.html | url-status = dead }}.</ref> In December 1999, in San Mateo, where he had moved to spend his last years, Adler was formally received into the Catholic Church by a long-time friend and admirer, Bishop [[Pierre DuMaine]].<ref name=Redpath/> "Finally," wrote another friend, [[Ralph McInerny]], "he became the Roman Catholic he had been training to be all his life".<ref name=McInerny />

Despite not being a Catholic for most of his life, on account of his lifelong participation in the [[Neo-scholasticism|Neo-Thomist movement]]<ref name= BFP /> and his almost equally long membership in the [[American Catholic Philosophical Association]], this latter, according to McInerny<ref name=McInerny /> is willing to consider Adler "a Catholic philosopher".

== Philosophy ==
Adler referred to [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' as the "ethics of [[common sense]]" and also as "the only moral philosophy that is sound, practical, and undogmatic."<ref>Adler, Mortimer ''Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors in Modern Thought: How They Came About, Their Consequences, and How to Avoid Them.''(1985) {{ISBN|0-02-500330-5}}, p. 196</ref> Thus, it is the only ethical doctrine that answers all the questions that moral philosophy should and can attempt to answer, neither more nor less, and that has answers that are true by the standard of truth that is appropriate and applicable to [[Norm (philosophy)|normative]] judgments. In contrast, Adler believed that other theories or doctrines try to answer more questions than they can or fewer than they should, and their answers are mixtures of truth and error, particularly the moral philosophy of [[Immanuel Kant]].

Adler was a self-proclaimed "moderate [[Mind–body dualism|dualist]]" and viewed the positions of [[Psychophysics|psychophysical]] [[Property dualism|dualism]] and [[Materialism|materialistic]] [[monism]] to be opposite sides of two extremes. Regarding dualism, he dismissed the extreme form of [[Dualism (philosophy of mind)|dualism]] that stemmed from such philosophers as [[Plato]] ([[Physical object|body]] and [[soul]]) and [[Descartes]] ([[Mind–body problem|mind and matter]]), as well as the theory of extreme [[monism]] and the [[mind–brain identity theory]]. After eliminating the extremes, Adler subscribed to a more moderate form of dualism. He believed that the brain is only a [[necessary and sufficient condition|necessary]], but not a [[sufficient]], condition for conceptual thought; that an "immaterial intellect" is also requisite as a condition;<ref>{{Citation | title = Mortimer J. Adler on the Immaterial Intellect | publisher = Book of Job | url = http://www.bookofjob.org/aonimmaterialintell.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040922115147/http://bookofjob.org/aonimmaterialintell.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = September 22, 2004 }}.</ref> and that the difference between human and animal behavior is a radical difference in kind. Adler defended this position against many challenges to dualistic theories.

===Freedom and free will===
The meanings of "[[freedom]]" and "[[free will]]" have been and are under debate, and the debate is confused because there is no generally accepted definition of either term.<ref>{{Citation | editor-first = Robert | editor-last = Kane | title = The Oxford Handbook of Free Will | page = 10}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | first1 = John Martin | last1 = Fischer | first2 = Robert | last2 = Kane | first3 = Derk | last3 = Pereboom | first4 = Manuel | last4 = Vargas | title = Four Views on Free Will | publisher = Blackwell | year = 2007 | page = 128}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|first=R Eric |last=Barnes |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/ebarnes/101/101-freedom-topic.htm |publisher=Mtholyoke |title=Freedom |access-date=October 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050216033737/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/ebarnes/101/101-freedom-topic.htm |archive-date=February 16, 2005 }}.</ref> Adler's "Institute for Philosophical Research" spent ten years studying the "idea of freedom" as the word was used by hundreds of authors who have discussed and disputed freedom.{{Sfn | Adler | 1995 | p = 137 | ps = , Liberty.}} The study was published in 1958 as Volume One of ''The Idea of Freedom'', subtitled ''A Dialectical Examination of the Idea of Freedom'' with subsequent comments in ''Adler's Philosophical Dictionary''. Adler's study concluded that a delineation of three kinds of freedom – circumstantial, natural, and acquired – is necessary for clarity on the subject.{{Sfn | Adler | 1958 | pp = 127, 135, 149}}{{Sfn | Adler | 1995 | pp = 137–138 | ps = , Liberty.}}
# "Circumstantial freedom" denotes "freedom from coercion or restraint."
# "Natural freedom" denotes "freedom of a free will" or "free choice." It is the freedom to determine one's own decisions or plans. This freedom exists in everyone inherently, regardless of circumstances or state of mind.
# "Acquired freedom" is the freedom "to will as we ought to will" and, thus, "to live as [one] ought to live." This freedom is not inherent: it must be acquired by a change whereby a person gains qualities as "good, wise, virtuous, etc."{{Sfn | Adler | 1958 | pp = 127, 135, 149}}

===Religion===
As Adler's interest in religion and theology increased, he made references to the Bible and the need to test articles of faith for compatibility with the conclusions of the science of nature and of philosophers.<ref>{{Citation | first = Mortimer J | last = Adler | title = 'Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth | orig-year = Macmillan, 1990 | publisher = Touchstone | type = reprint | year = 1992 | pages = 29–30}}.</ref> In his 1981 book ''How to Think About God'', Adler attempts to demonstrate God as the [[ex nihilo|exnihilator]] (the creator of something from nothing).<ref name=word-gems/> Adler stressed that even with this conclusion, [[God's existence]] cannot be proven or demonstrated, but only established as true [[Reasonable doubt|beyond a reasonable doubt]]. However, in a recent re-review of the argument, John Cramer concluded that recent developments in [[cosmology]] appear to converge with and support Adler's argument, and that in light of such theories as the [[multiverse]], the argument is no worse for wear and may, indeed, now be judged somewhat more probable than it was originally.<ref>John Cramer. [http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1995/PSCF3-95Cramer.html "Adler's Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God"]. ''[[Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith]]'', March 1995, pp. 32–42.<!-- paper says 1985 but ASA's PSCF index and link both say 1995 --></ref>

Adler believed that, if theology and religion are living things, there is nothing intrinsically wrong about efforts to modernize them. They must be open to change and growth like everything else. Furthermore, there is no reason to be surprised when discussions such as those about the "death of God" – a concept drawn from [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] – stir popular excitement as they did in the recent past and could do so again today. According to Adler, of all the great ideas, the idea of God has always been and continues to be the one that evokes the greatest concern among the widest group of men and women. However, he was opposed to the idea of converting [[atheism]] into a new form of religion or theology.

== Personal life ==
Mortimer Adler was married twice and had four children.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{Citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E6D71739F93AA15755C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | first = William | last = Grimes | title = Mortimer Adler, 98, Dies; Helped Create Study of Classics | newspaper = The New York Times | date = June 29, 2001}}.</ref> He married Helen Boynton in 1927. Together they adopted two children, Mark and Michael, in 1938 and 1940, respectively. They divorced in 1960. In 1963, Adler married Caroline Pring, his junior by thirty-four years; they had two children, Douglas and Philip.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-03-12-9803120196-story.html|title=Caroline Pring Adler|last=Tribune|first=Chicago|website=chicagotribune.com|date=March 12, 1998 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/06/30/mortimer-adler-dies/f6ee312f-74d4-44c3-8dc5-cba839c544af/|title=Mortimer Adler Dies|date=June 30, 2001|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=January 22, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Adler|first=Mortimer|title=Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography|url=https://archive.org/details/philosopheratlar00mort|url-access=registration|publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co.|year=1977|isbn=0-02-500490-5|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/philosopheratlar00mort/page/n113 96]}}</ref><ref>
Adler, ''Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography'' (New York:  Macmillan, 1977), p. 227.</ref>

== Awards ==
*1985, Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref>
*1993, Aspen Hall of Fame<ref>{{cite web|title= Mortimer Adler |publisher= Aspen Hall of Fame|url= https://www.aspenhalloffame.org/inductee/mortimer-adler/}}</ref>

== Published works ==
{{Div col}}
* ''Dialectic'' (1927)
* ''The Nature of Judicial Proof: An Inquiry into the Logical, Legal, and Empirical Aspects of the Law of Evidence'' (1931, with Jerome Michael)
* ''Diagrammatics'' (1932, with [[Maude Hutchins|Maude Phelps Hutchins]])
* ''Crime, Law and Social Science'' (1933, with Jerome Michael)
* ''Art and Prudence: A Study in Practical Philosophy'' (1937)
* ''What Man Has Made of Man: A Study of the Consequences of Platonism and Positivism in Psychology'' (1937)<ref>{{Citation | url = https://archive.org/details/whatmanhasmadeof017923mbp | title = What Man Has Made of Man | year = 1938 | oclc = 807118494 |  publisher = Archive}}.</ref>
* ''St. Thomas and the Gentiles'' (1938)
* ''The Philosophy and Science of Man: A Collection of Texts as a Foundation for Ethics and Politics'' (1940)
* ''[[How to Read a Book|How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education]]'' (1940), 1966 edition subtitled ''A Guide to Reading the Great Books'', 1972 revised edition with [[Charles Van Doren]], ''The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading'': {{ISBN|0-671-21209-5}}
* ''Problems for Thomists: The Problem of Species'' (1940) 
* ''A Dialectic of Morals: Towards the Foundations of Political Philosophy'' (1941)
* {{cite news| title=How to Mark a Book|work=The Saturday Review of Literature|date=July 6, 1940| url=http://www.maebrussell.com/Articles%20and%20Notes/How%20To%20Mark%20A%20Book.html}}<ref>{{citation |author=Mortimer J. Adler |date=July 6, 1940 |title=How to Mark a Book |journal=The Saturday Review of Literature |pages=11–12}}</ref>
* ''How to Think About War and Peace'' (1944)
* ''The Revolution in Education'' (1944, with [[Milton Mayer]])
* {{cite book |last = Adler|first=Mortimer J.|editor-last=Heywood |editor-first=Robert B. |title=The Works of the Mind: The Philosopher |year=1947 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |oclc=752682744 }}
* {{Citation  |last = Adler|first=Mortimer J.| title = The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Idea of Freedom | volume = 1 | publisher = Doubleday | year = 1958 }}.
* ''The Capitalist Manifesto'' (1958, with [[Louis O. Kelso]]) {{ISBN|0-8371-8210-7}}
* ''The New Capitalists: A Proposal to Free Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings'' (1961, with Louis O. Kelso)
* ''The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Controversies about Freedom'' (1961)
* ''Great Ideas from the Great Books'' (1961)
* ''[[The Conditions of Philosophy]]: Its Checkered Past, Its Present Disorder, and Its Future Promise'' (1965)
* ''The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes'' (1967)
* ''The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense'' (1970)
* ''The Common Sense of Politics'' (1971)
* ''The American Testament'' (1975, with William Gorman)
* ''Some Questions About Language: A Theory of Human Discourse and Its Objects'' (1976)
* ''Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography'' (1977)
* ''Reforming Education: The Schooling of a People and Their Education Beyond Schooling'' (1977, edited by Geraldine Van Doren)
* ''[[Aristotle for Everybody]]: Difficult Thought Made Easy'' (1978) {{ISBN|0-684-83823-0}}
* ''How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan'' (1980) {{ISBN|0-02-016022-4}}
* ''[[A Syntopicon#Six Great Ideas|Six Great Ideas]]: Truth–Goodness–Beauty–Liberty–Equality–Justice'' (1981) {{ISBN|0-02-072020-3}}
* ''The Angels and Us'' (1982)
* ''The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto'' (1982) {{ISBN|0-684-84188-6}}
* ''How to Speak / How to Listen'' (1983) {{ISBN|0-02-500570-7}}
* ''Paideia Problems and Possibilities: A Consideration of Questions Raised by The Paideia Proposal'' (1983)
* ''A Vision of the Future: Twelve Ideas for a Better Life and a Better Society'' (1984) {{ISBN|0-02-500280-5}}
* ''The Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus'' (1984, with Members of the Paideia Group) {{ISBN|0-02-013040-6}}
* ''Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors In Modern Thought – How they came about, their consequences, and how to avoid them.'' (1985) {{ISBN|0-02-500330-5}}
* ''A Guidebook to Learning: For a Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom'' (1986)
* ''We Hold These Truths: Understanding the Ideas and Ideals of the Constitution'' (1987). {{ISBN|0-02-500370-4}}
* ''Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind'' (1988, edited by Geraldine Van Doren)
* ''Intellect: Mind Over Matter'' (1990)
* ''Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth'' (1990) {{ISBN|0-02-064140-0}}
* ''Haves Without Have-Nots: Essays for the 21st Century on Democracy and Socialism'' (1991) {{ISBN|0-02-500561-8}}
* ''Desires, Right & Wrong: The Ethics of Enough'' (1991)
* ''A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher At Large'' (1992)
* ''The Great Ideas: A Lexicon of Western Thought'' (1992)
* ''Natural Theology, Chance, and God'' (''The Great Ideas Today'', 1992)
*{{cite book|last=Adler|first=Mortimer J.|title=The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical, Moral, Objective, Categorical|publisher=Macmillan|year=1993|isbn=0-02-500574-X}}
* ''Art, the Arts, and the Great Ideas'' (1994)
* {{Citation | title = Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon | publisher = Touchstone | year = 1995 |ref={{sfnref|Adler|1995}} }}.
* ''How to Think About The Great Ideas'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-8126-9412-0}}
* ''How to Prove There Is a God'' (2011) {{ISBN|978-0-8126-9689-9}}

===Anthologies, collections and surveys edited by Adler===

* ''Scholasticism and Politics'' (1940)
* ''[[Great Books of the Western World]]'' (1952, 52 volumes), 2nd edition 1990, 60 volumes
* ''[[A Syntopicon: An Index to The Great Ideas]]'' (1952, 2 volumes), 2nd edition 1990
* ''The Great Ideas Program'' (1959–1963, 10 volumes), with Peter Wolff, Seymour Cain, and V.J. McGill <ref>{{cite web |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/great-ideas-program/oclc/3010999 |title=The Great Ideas Program |website=WorldCat}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.greatbooksjournal.com/p/reading-plans |title= Reading Plans |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130235240/https://www.greatbooksjournal.com/p/reading-plans|archive-date=2024-01-30|url-status=live|website=greatbooksjournal.com |access-date=2024-01-30 |quote=''The Great Ideas Program'' is a ten volume companion to ''Great Books of the Western World''. [...] This set was published between 1959 and 1963 due to demand for an organized program of reading that was lacking in the ''Great Books'' set itself. [...] The editors prepared this set “to provide a way into the ''Great Books'' for readers who would like help in their first reading of them.” Each volume contains fifteen readings that are designed to take a typical adult approximately two weeks to read, understand, and contemplate. Introductory material is provided for each reading and elements that might pose difficulties are highlighted. This material does not attempt to “spoon feed” the reader but does provide useful information to get started. [...] Each reading is supposed to account for two weeks since the goal is not to speed read these selections but to really ''read'' them, perhaps more than once, and then to write about them using prompts that the editors provide.}}</ref>
* ''The Great Ideas Today'' (1961–77, 17 volumes; 1978–99, 21 volumes), with Robert Hutchins
* ''The Negro in American History'' (1969, 3 volumes), with Charles Van Doren
* ''[[Gateway to the Great Books]]'' (1963, 10 volumes), with Robert Hutchins
* ''The Annals of America'' (1968, 21 volumes)
* ''[[Propædia]]: Outline of Knowledge and Guide to The New Encyclopædia Britannica 15th Edition'' (1974, 30 volumes)
* ''Great Treasury of Western Thought'' (1977, with Charles Van Doren) {{ISBN|0412449900}}
{{Div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[List of American philosophers]]
* [[Educational perennialism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|author =Moorhead, Hugh|title=The Great Books Movement ''(Ph.D. dissertation)''| publisher=University of Chicago|date=1964 |oclc=6060691}}
* {{cite book|author =Kass, Amy A. |author-link = Amy A. Kass| title=Radical Conservatives for a Liberal Education|publisher=PhD dissertation|date= 1973}}
* {{cite book|author =Ashmore, Harry|title=Unseasonable Truths: The Life of Robert Maynard Hutchins|url =https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780316053969|url-access =registration| location=New York|publisher= Little Brown|date= 1989|isbn=9780316053969}}
* {{cite book|author =McNeill, William | title=Hutchins' University: A Memoir of the University of Chicago 1929–50|location=Chicago|publisher= University of Chicago Press|date= 1991}}
* {{cite book|author =Dzuback, Mary Ann |title=Robert M. Hutchins: Portrait of an Educator|url =https://archive.org/details/robertmhutchinsp00dzub |url-access =registration | location=Chicago|publisher= University of Chicago|date= 1991|isbn=9780226177106}}
* {{cite book|author =Rubin, Joan Shelley |title=The Making of Middlebrow Culture ''(Ph.D. dissertation)''|location=Chapel Hill|publisher= University of North Carolina Press|date= 1992}}
* {{cite book|author1 =Crockett, Jr. |author2 =Bennie R.|title=Mortimer J. Adler: An Analysis and Critique of His Eclectic Epistemology ''(Ph.D. dissertation)''|publisher= University of Wales, Lampeter, UK|date= 2000}}
* {{cite book|author =Lacy, Tim| title=Making a Democratic Culture: The Great Books Idea, Mortimer J. Adler, and Twentieth-Century America ''(Ph.D. dissertation)''|publisher= Loyola University |location=Chicago|date= 2006}}
* {{cite book|author =Beam, Alex|title=A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books| location=New York|publisher= Public Affairs| date= 2008}}
* {{cite book|first=Tim.|last=Lacy|title=The Dream of a Democratic Culture: Mortimer J. Adler and the Great Books Idea|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2013|ISBN=9781137042620|series=Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History|location=New York City}}

== External links ==
{{sisterlinks|d=Q313929|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|commons=Category:Mortimer J. Adler|s=Author:Mortimer Adler|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no}}
* [http://www.thegreatideas.org/ Center for the Study of The Great Ideas]
*{{IMDb name|id=3566289}}
* {{C-SPAN|16112}}
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00003 Adler papers] at [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/a/adler_mj.htm Adler papers] at [[Syracuse University]]
* [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.ADLERM Guide to the Mortimer J. Adler Papers 1914–1995] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center]
* Many of the [[National Educational Television]] program "Great Ideas" in which he featured around 1957 are available online in [https://americanarchive.org American Archive of Public Broadcasting]. Fifty-two edited transcripts of them are available in the book ''How to Think About The Great Ideas'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-8126-9412-0}}
* [https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll90/id/7/rec/50 Interview with Mortimer J. Adler (1958)] from The [[Mike Wallace]] Interview Collection in [[Harry Ransom Center]], [[University of Texas at Austin]]

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