Biographical Sketch
Mortimer Jerome Adler, born 1902 in New York City, is an American
philosopher, educator, and author. He began his career as a secretary and
copywriter for the
New York Sun and through a program of formal
and self education was awarded a PhD from Columbia University (1928). Adler,
who became associate professor there in 1930, continued to participate in the
Honors program, instituted by John Erskine, which focused on the reading of the
classics. His tenure at Columbia included study with such eminent thinkers as
Erskine and John Dewey. This kind of environment inspired not only his interest
in reading and the study of the great books of
Western Civilization, but his insistence on the
establishment of an integrated philosophy of science, literature, and
religion.
It was this combination of interests that dominated his career at
schools and research institutions such as the University of Chicago, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Institute for Philosophical
Research, and the Aspen Institute, the last two of which he helped establish.
Adler was also a board member of the Ford Foundation and the
Encyclopedia Britannica, whose policies and
programs he helped guide and significantly influence.
In 1930 he was appointed to the Philosophy faculty at the University of
Chicago. Because of the innovations he proposed for the curriculum, his
appointment led to a conflict with the faculty. These changes were based on
Adler's central interests in the reading, discussion and analysis of
classic literature and an integrated philosophical
approach to the study of separate disciplines. By 1931 these
interdepartmental wars resulted in Adler's
reassignment to the Law School as Professor of Philosophy of Law. While he
continued his educational reforms on a more conservative basis, the concept of
seminars on great books and great ideas continued to gain inroads at other
universities. In 1952, his work culminated in the publication by
Britannica of the
Great Books and Great Ideas series.
His earliest work resulted in the publication of
Dialectic (1927), which focused on a
summation of the great philosophical and religious ideas of
Western Civilization -- ideas influenced by his
fascination with medieval thought and sensibility. The work on which he had
concentrated since his Columbia University days, together with a lecture series
and essays produced in Chicago, resulted in several publications:
The Higher Learning in America (1936),
What Man Has Made of Man: A Study of the
Consequences of Platonism and Positivism in Psychology (1937),
Art and Prudence: A Study in Practical Philosophy
(1937) and, in December 1940,
How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting A Liberal
Education. His interest in the liberal education of the
common man came to fruition in
How to Read a Book.
How to Think About War and Peace (1943),
written in the political and social climate of the Second World War, continued
his advocacy of a popular, yet intelligent approach to public education. Adler
met life-long friend Clifton Kip Fadiman in a
great books seminar taught by Adler at Columbia University. Fadiman later
became an editor at Simon and Schuster, a literary critic for
The New Yorker as well as the author of
numerous essays and books. While corresponding with Adler throughout the
writing of the book, he supplied, in 1943, the preface,
A Plea to the Reader, for
How to Think about War and Peace.
Adler has written voluminously throughout his career, consistently
focusing on a cross-disciplinary and integrated philosophy of law, politics,
religion, and education. Other books that reflect this theme include:
The Common Sense of Politics (1971),
Six Great Ideas: Truth, Beauty, Justice, Liberty:
Ideas We Judge By, Ideas We Act On (1981), and
The Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus
(1984). More recently he has been involved in creating video programs
with Bill Moyers which focus on the subject of the Constitution and biographies
of the justices of the Supreme Court. In 1992 he published a continuation of
his autobiography
Philosopher at Large (1977) entitled
A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further
Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large. In 1993 he
published
The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical,
Moral, Objective, Categorical. The main criticism of his work remains
the narrow focus and definition (Anglo-American, European and male) that he
gives to greatness.
The Mortimer J. Adler Papers were donated by Adler and Fadiman to the
Harry Ransom Center in two parts: the
How to Read a Book papers in 1962 and the
How to Think about War and Peace papers in
1963.
Scope and Contents
The papers of Mortimer Jerome Adler, 1939-1944 (3 boxes), consist of
correspondence and manuscripts which document the writing, editing, publishing,
and publication of two works,
How to Read a Book (1940) and
How to Think about War and Peace (1943). The
papers are arranged in two series:
How to Read a Book, 1939-1940 (2 boxes) and
How to Think about War and Peace, 1943-1944
(1 box). Each series is divided into two subseries, correspondence and
manuscripts.
The bulk of the correspondence concerning
How to Read a Book provides a profile of the
book's production, title selection, legal matters, publicity, and sales.
Adler's correspondence with M. Lincoln Schuster and Jerome Weidman, both of
Simon & Schuster, and Clifton Kip Fadiman
reflect personal as well as professional relationships. The large amount of
correspondence from reviewers, educators, and general readers provides a
limited sample of public reaction to the book. The correspondence is grouped
within subject headings. Letters found in folders 1.1-1.3, which relate to
publication and publicity, are filed chronologically, while those found in
folders 1.4-1.7, comprising reviews and letters from readers, are filed
alphabetically. One second printing copy and one seventh printing copy of
How to Read a Book were removed from the
collection and cataloged for the HRC book collection.
The correspondence found in the second series,
How to Think about War and Peace, is between
Adler, Clifton Fadiman, and Simon & Schuster, his publishing company. This
correspondence provides insight into the intellectual formulation of the book.
There is, in addition, correspondence concerning Fadiman's writing and editing
of the preface as well as critiques of the book from various scholars. This
material is also arranged chronologically within subject headings, except for
the letters between Adler and E. B. White (7 items) which have been separated
from the other correspondence. One first edition has been removed and cataloged
for the HRC book collection.
While the bulk of these papers concern the publication and sales of
How to Read a Book (1940) and
How to Think about War and Peace (1943),
there is also correspondence which discusses the editing and criticism of the
ideas advocated in the books. Among these ideas and subjects are: acorrect
and informed style of reading, classic literature, liberal education and
humanist studies in general, global government and politics, the philosophy of
war and peace, and the socio-economic conditions under which an educated public
and a universal peace might flourish. Significant correspondents include:
Jacques Barzun, T.T. Bevans, Bennett Cerf, Stuart Chase, Clifton Fadiman,
Waldeman Gurian, Quincy Howe, Walter Lippman, Henry R. Luce, Jacques Maritain,
M. Lincoln Schuster, Leon Shimfin, Richard Simon, Jerome Weidman, and E. B.
White. A list of all correspondents in the Adler Papers is located at the end
of this inventory.