Mortimer Adler

Mortimer Jerome Adler (December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, author, and lay theologian. His philosophical work was situated within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. Adler taught at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, served as chairman of the board of editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, and founded the Institute for Philosophical Research. He resided for extended periods in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California. Adler left school at age 14 to work as a copy boy for The New York Sun, with the ultimate aspiration of becoming a journalist. He soon returned to education to take night classes in writing, during which he became acquainted with Western philosophy. Adler subsequently studied at Columbia University, where he contributed to the student literary magazine The Morningside. One of his contributions was the poem Choice, published in 1922. Adler refused to take a swimming test required for a bachelor's degree; Columbia awarded him an honorary degree in 1983. He remained at Columbia, where he held an instructorship and later earned a doctorate in psychology. During this period, he wrote his first book, Dialectic, published in 1927. Adler later worked with Scott Buchanan at the People's Institute and collaborated with him for many years on their respective Great Books projects. Adler's philosophical views developed toward what he described as the identification and correction of errors in contemporary philosophy, a position he articulated in his 1985 book Ten Philosophical Mistakes: Basic Errors in Modern Thought. In this work, Adler argued that certain foundational problems in modern philosophy originated with René Descartes in continental philosophy and with Thomas Hobbes and David Hume in British philosophy. He attributed these problems to what he characterized as insufficient engagement with Aristotle by thinkers who rejected classical philosophical frameworks. Adler further contended that these errors were extended by later philosophical movements, including Kantian idealism and existentialism, as well as by utilitarian and analytic philosophy associated with figures such as John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, and Bertrand Russell. Adler maintained that his own philosophical approach addressed these issues through concepts and distinctions derived from Aristotelianism.