Customer Reviews

Aristotle for Everybody

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an absolutely great book. This is the type of book that justifies all of the fluff in the publishing world. This book is written in a way that anyone can not only understand but also enjoy.

This book is 190 pages (Bantam 1978). There are no dull chapters or useless ramblings. All of the chapters and portions build upon each other and grant a continuing greater understanding of Aristotle and philosophy as a whole.

The book can be read in its entirety, as I have done many times, or in pieces and morsels, as I have also done many times for papers and brainstorming.

A very worthwhile read and definite necessity for any balanced library.

I am a firm believer that reading interpretations of philosophical writings is never a substitute for the actual writings. I read this book and gave it to my wife who did not have the benefit of studying Aristotle in a scholastic environment. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand what Aristotle is all about, but doesn't have the time to study all of his works.

In addition, the author has many reference notes that the reader can use to find the original writings to which the book refers. In many ways, the book acts like a good philosophy teacher. Much can be learned by reading the book, and the corresponding works of Aristotle as referenced in the notes.

Please disregard the previous remork by "a reader" in San Jose. This books is NOT a "Christian spin" on Aristotle. Adler wrote this book a decade before his conversion to Christianity.

This book makes Aristotle's teachings simple to comprehend and allows the reader to truly understand what the Greek thinker really thought. It was interesting to read Aristotle's ideas on how one should live life and that life should not be difficult if you live by his beliefs. I recommend this book to you.

"No idea in this book is less than 2,400 years old." So says the back cover.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, and one of the greatest thinkers and scientific investigators and organizers the world has ever seen. He was born in 384 B.C., and died 62 years later. His father, Nicomachus, was the court physician and a friend of the king. He studied under Plato for twenty years, until the latter's death. Although he criticized Plato's doctrines in later years, he always spoke of his master with greatest reverence.

Many of his popular writings were written in dialogue form, and were modeled in both subject matter and style, after Plato's. The writings which are traditionally attributed to him seem to have come primarily from the works prepared and arranged by Andronicus of Rhodes in about the first century.<P.

He wrote The Treatises on Logic; The Rhetoric and the Poetics; The Work on the first Philosophy (also called The Metaphysics); The Works on Natural Science; and The Ethics and Politics.

Mortimer Adler, the author of this book, says that his sons, Douglas and Philip, 13 and 12 respectively, read his manuscript enthusiastically, and so you may assume that the book is easy to assimilate. Which it is.

Why philosophy? Adler says, I think correctly, that philosophy is everyone's business, to help us understand things we already know better than we now understand them.

And, it is humbling to know, when you finally think you understand something, to find that someone--Aristotle, for example--understood it more than three hundred years before the birth of Christ, and without the benefit of television documentaries.

This book should probably be in your library.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

For a first introductrion to philosophy, this book provides the reader with an interesting approach to artistotelian modes of thought, through intersting examples and clear defenitions

This is the best introduction to Aristotle I have seen. Reading Aristotle, especially the primary sources, is not easy. This book is a place where anyone can begin in Aristotle's thought.

There isn't very much I can add to what has already been said by other reviewers. This is an absolutely excellent and accessible introduction to Aristotle and his thinking. As one reviewer says, the chapters are very logical and straightforward, each building up on previous chapters. Upon reading this brief book, the reader will have a much better understanding of Aristotle's thought, as well as an expanded perspective on God, our existence, family, work, and contemplation. While the subject matter is profound, Adler is far from erudite, and this book (as with many of his others that I have read) should prove to be accessible by junior high school students, high school students, college students, and so on. A definite "must read" for everybody.

For anyone having difficulty reading the greatest philosopher in Western history-"The master of all who know"-or for the expert who wants a review of Aristotle, this book is a must. Adler is a great philosopher in his own right, and here he presents his knowledge in full, representing Aristotle's thought as well as Aristotle himself could explain it. A must read for all philosophers, beginners and scholars.

Aristotle for Everybody is a brief introduction to Aristotle aimed at the young reader. Its target audience is probably the inquisitive student in the 12-14 range who is seeking an overview of Aristotelian thought.

I accidentally picked up this book after glancing at a couple of the reviews on this site. I was about to re-read some Aristotle and was seeking to re-acquaint myself with his particular style and language. This is definitely not the book for this purpose.

Adler's text is clearly geared to the young reader who has not been introduced to philosophy. I do not mean this to be disrespectful but to help oher readers avoid my mistake. Adler, himself notes in the introduction that his initial thought was to title the work Aristotle for Children. Indeed for the young reader this may not be an inappropriate mechanism for introducing Aristotle.