Mortimer J. Adler - AlphabeticallyMax WeismannAdler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon Mortimer J. Adler Scribner 223 pages, $21 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 Synopticon: 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 93 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. v
Max Weismann is Co-Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Great Ideas in Chicago and editor of its journal Philosophy is Everybody's Business
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