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THE GREAT IDEAS ONLINE A Syntopical Approach to the Great Books
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Dr. Adler: Thank you for your writings, and for the wonderful, and very necessary Center, and for the Online journal. Last week, my 14 year old daughter brought home from school a booklet which contains descriptions of "electives." She must choose 2 of these electives to include in her schedule for next year. She has repeatedly expressed her worry that she doesn't know what to choose, because she doesn't know what she wants to major in ( in college) -- she is not sure what "career" she wants to pursue. I told her that she is far too young to be concerned about her path in life, and explained to her that an education in liberal arts is not a means to an end, etc. She objected, saying that my views are against the world's views, and she cannot go against the world. I believe she has beautifully summed up the state of mind of the American education system. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for this essay! [Myth of the Teenager] Regards, Marie C. DeNino, Mother of 2 youths
Max: Thanks for sending me on The Great Ideas Online. I have just read Mortimer's commentary on Campbell. It was right on target. Best wishes, Milt Rosenberg Note: Professor Rosenberg is the host and moderator of the heralded "Extension 720" WGN Radio Chicago, a two-hour interview program. He has interviewed Dr. Adler at least twenty times.
Max, Very interesting. I've always felt the same about Campbell, but couldn't express it as well as Dr. Adler. Wayne Becker
THE YVES R. SIMON INSTITUTE Yves R. Simon (1903-1961) was one of the most distinguished teachers and philosophers of our time. Born in Cherbourg, France, he taught for many years in Paris and Lille before coming to the United States in 1938. Simon played a unique role in the 1930s foreseeing and working against the tragic events soon to result from the fascist regimes in Europe. After teaching for ten years at the University of Notre Dame (1938-1948), at the invitation of Robert M. Hutchins, he joined the famed Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago where he taught for fourteen years. In great demand as a speaker Simon lectured extensively in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Like his friend and colleague Mortimer Adler, Simon was an Aristotelian-Thomistic philosopher whose interests ranged throughout many philosophical disciplines, he made his principal and original contributions in political, economic and social philosophy, logic, ethics, and metaphysics. Simon's writings are known for their clarity of style, an absence of academic terminology and a genius for the use of illuminating examples. He was surely one of the great teachers of our time. The Institute is a philosophical and cultural foundation formed for the purpose of addressing contemporary issues from the perspective of a classical philosophical realism. Inspired by the work and example of Yves R. Simon, it is particularly dedicated to making his thought available to present readers.
"The works of Yves Simon are of enduring philosophical significance for their profundity and clarity. The establishment of the Yves R. Simon Institute will help to promote the widespread attention they deserve".
Mortimer J. Adler, Chairman & Co-Founder
"One of my greatest educational experiences at Notre Dame was to study briefly under Yves Simon. The Yves R. Simon Institute is a wonderful creation and worthy of the great man after whom it was named. May its work prosper in his image and tradition".
Theodore M. Hesburgh, President Emeritus
"...one is struck by one quality which distinguished the whole of Simon's works: the combination of a profound understanding of the basic insights of Western philosophy with a vivid experience of the philosophic problems of the contemporary world". Hans J. Morgenthau, City College of New York
"...Simon's books will remain a resource for which we have reason to be unusually grateful." Alasdaire MacIntyre, Duke University
"Yves Simon was a thinker of integrity; this means that he cannot be "positioned" along the left-right spectrum. I strongly recommend...his work...for anyone who wants to learn how to react with independence and integrity to the maddening events of our century." Dante Germino, University of Virginia
New York's Fordham University Press has just released "Acquaintance with the Absolute; The Philosophy of Yves R. Simon". Ed. by Anthony O. Simon. This work contains essays on his thought and a definitive annotated bibliography of all his works including: books, articles, parts of books, translations and reviews. Most of Simon's writings remain in print or have been recently reprinted including a dozen posthumous volumes. He was renown for the accessibility and clarity of his style. To learn more about the institute, Simon's works and a free brochure please contact:
Anthony O. Simon, Director
SEEKING A CENTER: My life as a "Great Bookie" This is a stimulating intellectual and spiritual autobiography of Otto Bird, a pioneer in the Great Books movement in this country. It tells of his involvement with the exciting and influential reforms of Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins at the University of Chicago, his training as mediaevalist under the renowned Etienne Gilson at the Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto, and his founding of the Great Books Program at the University of Notre Dame. Then, in describing a personal philosophical search, Dr. Bird shows how, by pursuing the methods introduced by Gilson and Adler, he was able to make sense out of the confusion of philosophers and provides an example in an analysis of the controversy concerning the idea of justice. The center that he sought was found in the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas and in the Roman Catholic church to which he became a convert. Bird's story provides unique insights into the development of the Great Books Movement and its influence upon American college education, to which a large part of his life was devoted by way of teaching, and writing through association from the beginning with the set Great Books of the Western World, published by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
"A moving account of Bird's pursuit of the truth in diverse directions, and of his success in getting his efforts focused by his gift of faith. It is an exemplary tale of learning and of self-development."
Mortimer J. Adler, Chairman and Co-Founder
"Dr. Bird's search has wonderfully fulfilled the commandment to 'love thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' He has interpreted this as directing him to a life of learning, and the result is an intellectual odyssey that is as instructive of ideas well-explored as it is convincing in its example of faith maintained." John Van Doren, Editor "The Great Ideas Today"
"The journey of an intellect, of a soul, that puts before the reader a vision of the intellectual life one wishes were more palpably present in Catholic colleges and universities than it is nowadays." Ralph McInerny, University of Notre Dame
MORTIMER ADLER, ALPHABETICALLY
"Adler's Philosophical Dictionary:
125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon" In the summer of 1764, Voltaire published a voluminous work entitled "Dictionnaire Philosophique" (A Philosophical Dictionary). He refused to allow his name to appear as its author and it contained little philosophical content. Not so with Mortimer Adler. In the summer of 1995, Adler published "Adler's Philosophical Dictionary". Not only does his name appear in the title, but the book is a summary of (or introduction to) Dr. Adler's philosophical reflection over the last thirty years. The only similarity then between Voltaire's and Adler's Dictionary is that the entries are arranged alphabetically. The man Time magazine has called, "America's philosopher for everyman," and William F. Buckley, Jr. calls, "Our nation's pedagogue," Mortimer Adler is probably best known for his many best-selling books, his work in liberal education with Robert M. Hutchins at the University of Chicago, and his ongoing association with the Great Books and the Great Ideas of the Western World. In addition, he is responsible for a prodigious amount of dialectical work done through his Institute for Philosophical Research and as Chairman of the Board of Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. His "Idea of Freedom" and "The Syntopicon: An Index to the Great Ideas" exemplify his dream of a summa dialectica of Western thought. Now, in his fifty-eighth book, we find a summa philosophica -- a summation of his doctrinal views on the 125 entries that range from Absolute and Relative to World Government. This affords the reader an opportunity to grasp the extraordinary compass of Adler's thought. Readers will immediately notice Adler's penchant for establishing the precise meanings for the words of common, everyday speech, and his disdain for the technical jargon used by contemporary philosophers. As Dr. Adler points out, "Unfortunately, many of the words used in everyday speech are used in many senses, most of them imprecise, wrong, or inadequate. It becomes necessary to give these ordinary words the precision they should have when they are used for philosophical purposes." Here, you will not find entries on existentialism, epistemology, phenomenology, reductionism, etc., but you will find God, Being, Love, Reality, Happiness, Citizen, Time, etc. Following Aristotle's precept, "It is necessary to call into our council the views of our predecessors in order that we may profit by whatever is sound in their views and avoid their errors," Adler's book is replete with references to the great authors of the great books. From the ancients -- Plato and Aristotle -- to the moderns -- Locke and Mill -- to the contemporaries -- Wittgenstein and Hawking, Adler displays his usual erudition. If some readers find what appears to be an important omission in an entry or would like to further penetrate Adler's thought, he provides us with two appendices. Appendix I lists his other works arranged according to subject; Appendix II alphabetically lists his other books referred to throughout the dictionary. Adler has once again provided insights into theology, ethics, psychology, and aesthetics in a lucid style, making clear how these oft-used terms are abused in the philosopher's lexicon. Mortimer Adler never tires of telling us that philosophy is everybody's business and that understanding the Great Ideas is philosophy's business. At 96 years of age, Mortimer Adler says, "the older you get, the harder you should work and the younger you will feel." I think he is on to something. This is Mortimer Adler's latest book -- not his last.
EDITOR'S NOTE Deal Hudson, editor of CRISIS Magazine asked me to write this book review for Dr. Adler's latest book because I persuaded him to write it. The first page in the book is the Acknowledgments page and it reads: "Upon completion of my last book, "Art, the Arts, and the Great Ideas", my good friend and colleague Max Weismann, Co-founder and Director of the Center for the Study of The Great Ideas in Chicago, urged me to undertake the writing of this book. His conviction was that not only would this book represent a summation of my philosophical views, but it would afford readers, when read with my other works, an invaluable guidebook on how to think about the future."
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Revised 3 February 1999 |