Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all. --Dale Carnegie In this issue: Letters from John Sheehan, Tim Bandy, and Edward Halpin; Reviews of How to Think about The Great Ideas, from Lewis Greer, Amazon.com, Publisher's Weekly, and Borders.com. Dear Max: The following is a summary of a project I wrote to the Center about some months ago, in which we piloted joint adult-student Great Books seminars. The project, you will see, has been immensely successful. The challenge that faces us now is how to build on that success. I welcome any suggestions from the members of the Center in that regard! A special thanks to Brian Hansen who came down from Boulder to witness the project first hand. Indulge me for a moment so that I can add a personal note of thanks to Max Weismann and Mortimer Adler. I don't think we can ever say enough times how fortunate we all are that Mortimer Adler's work has touched our lives. On a very personal level, I have yet one more reason to be grateful to Dr. Adler. One of the unexpected outcomes of this project is that my youngest son, Kyle, decided at the last minute to participate in our week of seminars. This took a lot of courage on his part, as most of the students were juniors and seniors in high school, while he is a freshman. The experience of engaging in a true dialectic with adults and students was a pivotal experience for him. School up til now has provided no intellectual spark. At the age of 15, Kyle has now experienced the power of Great Books and great discussion. This is a gift he will have for the rest of his life. Dr. Adler and Mr. Weismann's work make a real difference on a very personal level to so many people.
John Sheehan
In 1952, Robert Maynard Hutchins, then the president of the University of Chicago, asked us to imagine a time in which the younger generation and the adult community drew common inspiration and understanding from a shared set of great literature. "We could," Dr. Hutchins wrote, "talk to one another then." Many of us often feel that this vision is merely a chimera to be chased in vain, itself too often chased off by the realities and pressures of a society too impatient to see its value. But, just a few weeks ago, that vision took on very real dimensions. Two dozen adults and two dozen high school students met for three evenings to talk to one another about an important moral issue childhood. We did not use some new-fangled technique for facilitating "consensus" on this difficult issue. Instead, each of us agreed to a few simple rules that have stood the test of time: 1. We came prepared to discuss our ideas on an equal playing field by reading from a common set of texts taken from great literature. 2. We were committed to expressing and supporting our ideas through evidence we could all relate to in our shared readings. 3. We were committed to open and honest dialogue. 4. We sought enlightenment from each other's ideas and perspectives. The roughly 50 participants were split into three groups to participate in what have come to be known as "Great Books seminars". With the help of seminar leaders from Hutchins/Adler's very own Great Books Foundation in Chicago, adults and students talked to each other about childhood, guided each evening by a particular reading. William James, William Faulkner and Mary Shelley acted as our teachers. In a sense, what we did was a very literal realization of Hutchins/Adler vision. We came together to prove a point-that, starting from common sources of wisdom, both young and old could indeed talk more truly to one another. The result was astounding. We created, if only for three nights, a genuine community built across the generational divide on a foundation of shared inquiry and learning. It was pretty powerful stuff. Consider what the "numbers" tell us about what happened. Surveys given throughout the week and at the end of the project hint at the impact that these seminars had on both the adults and the students. Here are some simple stats: 1. Every participant indicated that they wanted to see more opportunities for adult-student great books seminars; 2. All but one participant told us that they planned to participate in future seminars, if offered. Asked to rate the Great Books seminar as a tool for learning on a scale of I to 5 (with 5 being the best possible response), adult responses averaged 4.79. Student responses averaged 4.84. Such universally high endorsement is remarkable. The numbers only tell half the story. One particularly poised student told us there are many more students in her school who want the kind of opportunities for intellectual engagement that these seminars offer. In many ways, she finds her classroom environments are, in contrast to what happened in these seminars, often dull, uninviting and unchallenging. Why is that? Rarely do we give our high school students the respect, A credit that they deserve when it comes to asking for their views on important questions affecting their lives and ours. "Even in my English class," wrote one student, "we have a discussion such as this. Here, however, [we are allowed] to make judgments and debate values concerning topics much more important and interesting dealing in the society today." These students are hungry for a chance to talk to adults about moral issues. Great Books seminars offer them this chance to raise difficult and genuinely unanswerable questions-questions that they will ponder for the rest of their lives. The adults responded with equal alacrity. In a world of work filled with constant deadlines and a world of leisure mostly filled with vacuous entertainment, we too are starved for intellectual engagement. One participant's comment simply read "Please--more discussions!" This pilot project was a success by any measure you choose to consider. So what's next? Therein lies the ultimate measure of success . The worse thing we could do now is to allow the spark we have ignited he,-e !o die out. Those of us who organized this project feel morally compelled to take steps to encourage our community and our schools to adopt Great Books seminars. We do offer Junior Great Books programs for students in the classroom, but not nearly enough. The adult-student format is unique. Now that we know how powerful it can be, lets begin offering it through our schools, libraries, churches, and businesses. The Douglas County Educational Foundation and the Douglas Public Library District-the two community organizations who made this project possible will be looking for ways to continue and expand these seminars.
Dear Max, My friends and I thank you for letting us know about the Britannica book sale. Most of the discounted books have not been available for several years. I bought the 1990 edition of the Great Books. I was delightfully surprised when I discovered that my 1952 edition goes for almost $600 and that used sets are usually gone by the time a person tries to buy one that is advertised, online, by used book dealers. My older first edition sold quickly for $400, which is about what I paid for it. I have Mortimer Adler to thank for my being able to afford my first Great Books set. The Britannica salesman told me that it was on Mr. Adler's insistence that he had to offer me the Great Books for half price when he sold me the encyclopedia set at the educator/student price. The salesman was not really interested in selling me the set. He was required to get my signature verifying that he had presented the special offer to me. I was as excited when I received my new second edition set as I was when I received my first edition. There are several newer and better translations and several 20th century authors have been added. Moreover, the Syntopicon is revised and updated. Tim Bandy
Dear Max: "Have you ever wondered about the symbolism of Genesis? Was there a talking serpent, a woman conceived from a rib? I have written a book which maintains that Adam was the human race ("Adam" in Hebrew means "mankind.") In my book "Man or Mankind?" I assert that "we" opted for the freedom to control our destiny while rejecting the alternative of subordination to God's will. Consequently, mankind experienced a loss of certitude and anxiety was bred into our genes. If collective consciousness is a reality, collective guilt involves all who fail to resist the spread of evil. To relieve anxiety, we are disposed to reject our neighbor's interest and seek to dominate him.
If any of my fellow members are interested in investing $7.95, the
book is available from
Best wishes in your promotion of your new book, "How to Think about
The Great Ideas".
Cordially,
Edward Halpin
BOOK REVIEWS
Reviewer: Lewis Greer from Palo Alto, California
A few thousand people in the San Francisco Bay Area were fortunate to have
experienced something extraordinary in 1953 and 1954. Over 52 weeks, for 30
minutes each week, Mortimer Adler discussed the Great Ideas on live
television, usually with a fellow named Lloyd Luckman. Because of the
format, the shows took the form of conversations. This book is a finely
edited transcript of those conversations, and they are definitely worth
reading.
The title perhaps presumes that people know how to think, and
offers to guide them in applying that skill to the Great Ideas. Using that
hook, even readers who don't think they can think will soon be thinking,
and will be glad for it. Think, for instance, about Adler's statement
"...adults are more educable than children, just as children are more
trainable than adults." Hmmm... then why do we send children to school
instead of adults? Adler gives the answer: so they can learn how to learn.
I like books that help me think better, and this one does.
The focus for thinking in this book is the Great Ideas, a great
idea that Dr. Adler (along with Robert M. Hutchins, who became President of
the University of Chicago at age 29!) brought to life in the Great Books of
the Western World (1952). Not all of the Great Ideas are discussed in this
book - only 22 of the original 102 (Equality was added later) are addressed
here, though some are discussed over several chapters.
That is certainly a step up from Six Great Ideas (1981), and it
is complete enough, well spoken enough, and well edited enough that any
reader will be very well rewarded. The book does not need to be read front
to back, and in fact you might want to read the chapter on How to Read a
Book before you read any of the rest.
I suspect, however, that most will do as I did - flip through and
find a chapter or section that seems particularly appealing (How to Think
about Beauty; How to Think about Work; How to Think about Punishment) and
start there.
Of course all this is my opinion, and Adler says that "Opinion is
of the greatest importance today in business and in industry." My hope is
that this one is helpful to you.
From Amazon.com:
How to Think about The Great Ideas is not, as I had presumed, a
collection of previously published works by philosopher Mortimer J. Adler.
Let's face it: now in his late 90s, Adler is no longer the prolific writer
he once was, so we can forgive him for not breaking new ground. But no
matter -- over the past couple of decades I've bought every book of his I
could lay my hands on, and I have never yet wasted my money. This new book
is a wonderful addition to my Adler library.
Rather than a collection of reprints, How to Think about The Great
Ideas is an edited set of transcripts from a public-television series
Adler broadcast in the early 1950s. These half-hour programs -- all 52 of
them -- covered 22 of the 102 (now 103) Great Ideas that Adler published in
his "Syntopicon" that accompanied Encyclopedia Britannica's Great Books of
the Western World. This new set of transcripts offers me a quick reference
to those shows, which I own on videotape.
Adler is a superb teacher, and his new book -- edited by Max
Weismann, cofounder, along with Adler, of the Center for the Study of the
Great Ideas -- serves as an excellent introduction to The Great Ideas. The
material is presented in a non-academic, conversational manner. The reader
should bear in mind, however, that in the half-hour formats of the original
shows, Adler was able to give only an introduction to the selected topics.
I would greatly encourage the newcomer, after finishing this book, to
consult Adler's later works where the author goes into much more detail.
The ensuing years have also allowed Adler to refine some of his arguments.
I commend the editor for including an index. Adler's other works
sometimes lacked an index, thereby diminishing their usefulness.
If I have any criticism of the book, it is this: the editor
explains that he chose to omit the tables and charts that Adler used in his
original televised presentations, regarding them as "distractions." The
decision is an unfortunate one. In my own notes, I have dutifully copied
these visual aids, because they make it easier for me to understand the
material and to visualize how the various "pieces" fit together.
In summary, "How to Think about The Great Ideas" offers a great
introduction to some of The Great Ideas. Readers may not necessarily agree
with everything Adler has to say, but he WILL make them THINK. What more
could we ask of a teacher?
From Publisher's Weekly:
Decades before Allan Bloom famously attacked multicultural education in The
Closing of the American Mind (1988), there was Mortimer Adler. A
university-trained philosopher, Adler (b. 1902) is the controversy-prone
inventor of Great Books-driven college curricula; during the 1930s, he
caused such a stir at the University of Chicago that the faculty members
demanded his dismissal. Later (1953-1954), he starred in his own TV show,
"The Great Ideas" -- and it's that show that gives this book its structure.
Composed of transcripts of 52 half-hour segments, the book showcases
Adler's ideas about all the big categories--truth, beauty, freedom, love,
sex, art, justice, rationality, humankind's nature, Darwinism, government.
In each chapter ("How to Think about God," "How to Read a Book," etc.),
readers encounter Adler's philosophical instructions and opinions: he
argues that the goal of both prison sentences and spankings should be to
avenge, to reform and to deter others; he suggests that beauty is not just
in the eye of the beholder; and -- no surprise here -- he confesses that he
favors "the ancient and traditional meaning of art." Adler even takes up
the subject of whether (and how) TV can be an effective educational tool.
In the end, whether or not you agree with Adler, there's no question that
the ideas he presents in these chapters are important. After all, they set
the terms of a series of cultural and intellectual debates we're still
having today -- about art, curriculum and freedom.
(May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
From Borders.com
Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Western literature, philosophy, and
history, Adler considers what is meant by democracy, law, emotion,
language, truth, and other abstract concepts in light of more than two
millennia of Western civilization. 15 photos.
Time magazine called Mortimer J. Adler a "philosopher for
everyman." In this guide to considering the big questions, Adler addresses
the topics all men and women ponder in the course of life, such as "What is
love?", "How do we decide the right thing to do?", and, "What does it mean
to be good?" Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Western literature,
history, and philosophy, the author considers what is meant by democracy,
law, emotion, language, truth, and other abstract concepts in light of more
than two millennia of Western civilization and discourse. Adler's essays
offer a remarkable and contemplative distillation of the Great Ideas of
Western Thought.
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