The Mortimer J. Adler Archive Dr. Adler's Briefing Room Also see: Dr. Adler's Insights into the Nature of Things Dr. Adler's Great Ideas from the Great Books Select a Feature... Main Page/Index Adler Biography Adler Bibliography Adler Books Adler Briefing Room Adler Remembrances Adler Anecdotes Adler Audio-Video The Adler Archive Index
Many of Dr. Adler's books are available through The Radical Academy Bookstore. Books by Mortimer J. Adler For more information about Dr. Adler and his discussion of The Great Ideas, visit... The Center for the Study of The Great Ideas Click Here for New & Used College Textbooks at Discount Prices Click Here for College Education Information & Study Resources Shop Amazon Stores in the Radical Academy Bookstore Magazine Outlet Music Store Classical Music Store Video Store DVD Store Computer Store Camera & Photo Store Computer/Video Games Software Store Musical Instruments Outlet Store Cellular Phones Toys & Games Tools & Hardware Automotive Store Outdoor Living Consumer Electronics Home & Garden Kitchen & Housewares Baby Superstore Apparel & Accessories Gourmet Food Grocery Store Sporting Goods Jewelry & Watches Health & Personal Care Beauty Store		These are brief remarks on various topics and responses to questions that Dr. Adler has been asked. Definition of Human Nature The Totum Bonum Self-Evident Propositions Dr. Mortimer J. Adler comments on... Science and Philosophy Philosophical Mistakes The Importance of Philosophical Reflection Guidelines for Conducting a Seminar Writing for the General Reader Common Sense and Philosophy Representative Government Knowledge and the Pursuit of Truth How to Read a Difficult Book Humility as a Virtue Knowledge and Opinion Truth The Goods of Our Lives Mathematics and Ethics Courage Sin Differences in Tastes The Formation of Habits Moral Responsibility Government The Term "Education" The Social Contract Faith and the Will to Believe Wisdom Capitalism and Socialism: Two Faces of the Same Coin The Purpose of Life The Conflict Between Reason and Emotion Self-Evidency and Ethics Is Worldly Success Necessary? Will Durant and "The Story of Philosophy" Objective and Subjective Science Law Wittgenstein Exegetical Reading Eternity Conceiving and Defining God Kant's Rationalism Mill's Utilitarianism Situation Ethics Emotions Aristotle Real vs. Apparent Goods Universals Inalienable Rights The Conflict between Liberty and Equality Citizenry Intellectual Power God and the Ontological Argument Moral and Cultural Relativism The Absolute and Relative Certainty and Probability Presuppositions About Human Nature The Necessity of Government The Virtue of Courage The Qualities of Leadership The Status of Women in Society Loyalty Politics and Progress The Treatment of the Aged Good and Evil Virtue and Vice Political Leadership Justice and Expediency Punishment Civil Disobedience Coercion and Duress Rights, Natural and Civil Anarchy Democracy Totalitarianism Capitalism and Socialism Communism and Socialism Citizenship War and Peace Friendship and Love Jefferson's Two-Track Education System Evolution Differences of Kind and Degree Little Philosophical Errors Impediments in Exercising One's Will Ancient vs. Modern Philosophers Progress in Ethics Mortimer Adler Necessary vs. Contingent Beings Kant's Moral Basis Happiness vs. Being Happy Ethics: Kant and Mill Suicidal Epistemologizing Fairness Justice The End Justifying the Means Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Adler's Definition of Human Nature Whatever properties or tendencies are present in all men without exception are species-specific, and by this criterion they are natural. Any property or tendency that is found in some men, but not in others, whether the number in whom it is found is small or large, cannot be species-specific. It is a product of nurture or at most an endowment of individual nature, but in no case an endowment of specific nature. Adler on the Totum Bonum The human good, the good for man as man, is a whole life made good by the possession of all the real goods toward which the common human nature of each individual tends for the satisfaction of its inherent needs. Since real goods are goods we ought to seek, the ideal of a good life as constituted by the sum total of real goods functions normatively as the complete or ultimate goal toward which we ought to strive. It is not the summum bonum, not the highest good in an order of goods, but the totum bonum, the whole of goods. And the moral obligation that each man has to make a good life for himself -- to achieve this totum bonum in his individual life -- is not only a categorical ought; it is also one that is universally binding on all men in the same way. Adler on Self-Evident Propositions A self-evident proposition is one in which the opposite is unthinkable. We cannot think that the whole is less than any one of its parts or that a part is greater than the whole to which it belongs. The proposition that the whole is greater than any of its parts is certainly instructive as well as being self-evidently true. There are not many proposition that are self-evidently true. Among self-evident truths, the most important is the law on contradiction: nothing can have an attribute and not have it at one and the same time. Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book... Academy Showcase Specials The Adler Archive Index
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