Our Founders
Mortimer Adler & Max Weismann
“The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind.”
Mortimer J. Adler
(December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001)
Chairman and Co-Founder with Max Weismann of the Center for the Study of The Great Ideas and Editor in Chief of its journal Philosophy is Everybody’s Business, Founder and Director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, Chairman of the Board of Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Editor in Chief of The Great Books of the Western World and The Syntopicon: An Index to the Great Ideas, Editor of The Great Ideas Today (all published by Encyclopaedia Britannica), Co-Founder and Honorary Trustee of The Aspen Institute, past Instructor at Columbia University, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago (1930-52).
Ongoing programs started or developed by Dr. Adler include: The Great Books Foundation (with Robert Hutchins), the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago (with Robert Hutchins), the Executive Seminars of The Aspen Institute, the Paideia Project (a plan for major reform of public school education), and The Great Ideas seminars at the Center for the Study of The Great Ideas—all promoting liberal education through an understanding of great works of philosophy, literature, history, science, and religion.
For more detailed information about Dr. Adler, two auto-biographies covering his intellectual life, should be consulted: Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography (1902-1976) Collier Books, Macmillan, 1992, originally published in 1977), and A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large (Macmillan, 1992).
A Partial Bibliography - BOOKS
(1927) Dialectic
(1931) The Nature of Judicial Proof: An Inquiry into the Logical, Legal, and Empirical Aspects of the Law of Evidence (with J. Michael)
(1933) Crime, Law and Social Science (with Jerome Michael)
(1937) 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
(1940) The Philosophy and Science of Man: A Collection of Texts as a Foundation for Ethics and Politics
(1940) How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education
(1941) A Dialectic of Morals: Towards the Foundations of Political Philosophy
(1944) How to Think About War and Peace
(1958) The Revolution in Education (with Milton Mayer)
(1958) The Capitalist Manifesto (with Louis O. Kelso)
(1958) The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Conceptions of Freedom
(1961) The New Capitalists: A Proposal to Free Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings (with Louis Kelso)
(1961) The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Controversies about Freedom
(1961) Great Ideas from the Great Books
(1965) The Conditions of Philosophy: Its Checkered Past, Its Present Disorder, and Its Future Promise
(1966) How to Read a Book: A Guide to Reading the Great Books
(1967) The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes
(1970) The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense
(1971) The Common Sense of Politics
(1972) How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading (with Charles Van Doren)
(1975) The American Testament (with William Gorman)
(1976) Some Questions About Language: A Theory of Human Discourse and Its Objects
(1977) Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography
(1977) Reforming Education: The Schooling of a People and Their Education Beyond Schooling (edited by Geraldine Van Doren)
(1978) Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy
(1980) How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan
(1981) Six Great Ideas: Truth-Goodness-Beauty-Liberty-Equality-Justice
(1982) The Angels and Us
(1982) The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto
(1983) How to Speak / How to Listen
(1983) Paideia Problems and Possibilities: A Consideration of Questions Raised by The Paideia Proposal
(1984) A Vision of the Future: Twelve Ideas for a Better Life and a Better Society
(1984) The Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus (with Members of the Paideia Group)
(1985) Ten Philosophical Mistakes
(1986) A Guidebook to Learning: For a Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom
(1987) We Hold These Truths: Understanding the Ideas and Ideals of the Constitution
(1988) Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind (edited by Geraldine Van Doren)
(1990) Intellect: Mind Over Matter
(1990) Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth
(1991) Haves Without Have-Nots: Essays for the 21st Century on Democracy and Socialism
(1991) Desires, Right & Wrong: The Ethics of Enough
(1992) A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher At Large.
-“Max was a true Renaissance Man: Philosopher at Large, Publisher, Architect, and Entrepreneur”
Max Weismann
(June 8, 1936 – February 22, 2017)
Max Weismann was an American Philosopher and a long-time friend and colleague of Mortimer Adler with whom he co-founded The Center for the Study of The Great Ideas in Chicago. He was Director and President of the Center and has dedicated his time and talents to promoting the philosophical and pedagogical ideas of Dr. Adler, especially the importance of the study of the “Great Books.” He also compiled, edited and published, How To Think About the Great Ideas: From The Great Books of Western Civilization, a 600-page collection of never published work from Adler’s television series, “The Great Ideas.” Weismann served as Chairman of the Great Books Academy (over 3000 students) and is a Fellow at the Adler-Aquinas Institute.
Prior to his career in philosophy and education with Dr Adler, Weismann was a Consultant in the field of architecture, construction management and exhibit design and fabrication. He worked on famous projects like the Century 21 Exposition, 1964 New York World’s Fair and Expo 67, with such notables as Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus, Walt Disney, Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckminster Fuller, Mies van der Rohe, Louis I. Kahn, Paul Rudolph, Marcel Breur, José Luis Sert, Edward Durell Stone, Minoru Yamasaki, Harry Weese, Moshe Safdie, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Alexander Calder, and Edward Larrabee Barnes. Weismann oversaw the development and construction of the Chicago Botanic Garden – Owner’s Representative in the renovation and recycling of City Hall in Rochester, New York.
Weismann also invented a revolutionary color imaging system that was used worldwide in the fields of color-proofing and printing, graphic design, television and advertising.