Mortimer
Adler Remembered
| Mortimer
J. Adler (December 28, 1902-June 28, 2001) was born in New York City.
At the age of 14, he dropped out of school and became a secretary and
copy boy at the New York Sun. |
| With
aspirations of becoming a journalist, he enrolled in night school at Columbia
University to improve his writing. At Columbia University, Adler explored
and strengthened his interest in the great philosophers and thinkers of
Western civilization. While reading John Stuart Mill, Adler learned that
Mill had read Plato at the age of five. Adler borrowed a copy of Plato
and became enthralled. As a result, he decided to study philosophy full-time
at Columbia. Adler never graduated with a bachelor's degree because he
failed to meet the physical education requirements. |
| Adler's
command of the classics was so well known at Columbia University that
he was awarded a doctorate in philosophy and began teaching there in the
1920s. While at Columbia, Adler worked with John Dewey and John Erskine.
This environment inspired his beliefs that the "Great Books"
of Western civilization should be infused within science, literature,
and religion. |
| In
1930, Adler became a philosophy faculty member at the University of Chicago.
While at the University of Chicago, he strengthened his views that the
classics should be integrated within the academic disciplines. His views
conflicted with those of the University and he was transferred to the
Law School in 1931. |
| During
the 1950s, Adler continued to work on educational reform and his seminars
involving the "great books" and "great ideas." In
1952, Adler and Robert Hutchins edited the
54 volumes of the "Great Books of the Western World" that were
published by the Encyclopedia Britannica company. |
| Adler
started many organizations during his lifetime related to his interests
in educational reform involving the classics and philosophy. He helped
to found the Institute for Philosophical Research at the University of
North Carolina and the Aspen Institute in Colorado. In addition, he also
served on the Board of Directors of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the
Ford Foundation. |
|
Adler
spent his lifetime making philosophical books accessible to all individuals.
Books that he has written include:
- How
To Read A Book (1940)
- The
Common Sense of Politics (1971)
- Philosopher
At Large: An Intellectual Autobiography (1977)
- Six
Great Ideas (1981)
- The
Paideia Proposal (1982)
- The
Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus (1984)
- A
Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections
of a Philosopher at Large (1992).
|
Sources:
www.radicalacademy.com/adlerbio.htm and Perkinson, H. J. (1995). The Imperfect
Panacea. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
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