Art, the Arts, and the Great Ideas [Audio Cassette]

Mortimer J. Adler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1995

Does a piece of visual or musical art have any content? Do the fine arts have anything at all to say about ideas? Adler ambitiously defines the words "art," "idea," and "significance" in terms of their differing philosophical meanings. Fundamental to his argument is whether visual art and the performing arts can elicit the discussion of ideas and basic concepts that do books.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adler and Robert Hutchins originated the Great Books program at the University of Chicago in the 1940s. Based on readings in classic works of literature and philosophy, Great Books seminars focused on discussions of such ideas as love, war and peace, as well as other concepts outlined by Adler in The Syntopican , an index to what he regarded as the great books of the Western world. Here he offers a defense of the decision to exclude music and painting as additional stimuli for the consideration of enduring ideas. His thesis will be of interest to those who are familiar with Adler's philosophy of liberal education, though it is likely, also, to spur strong disagreement.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Adler (Ten Philosophical Mistakes, LJ 4/1/ 85) provides a clear and compelling explication on the idea content of verbal and nonverbal arts. He moves from a history of the concept of fine art into a lively discourse on the "invention" of the "great ideas," an organizational device he developed for Britannica, Inc. in the early 1950s. Whether an art work is nonverbal (e.g., a statue or painting) or verbal (e.g., an epic poem), "the artist can say what he or she has in mind only by producing the work of art that he or she has in mind." This text serves as a useful and involving introduction to aesthetic philosophy, but one chapter is an excerpt from Ten Philosophical Mistakes and another reproduces far too much of the Great Books' Synopticon relative to the new content and discussion provided in this slim text. For informed readers.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786107030
• ISBN-13: 978-0786107032
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,551,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mortimer Jerome Adler (December 28, 1902 - June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo. He worked for Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, and Adler's own Institute for Philosophical Research. Adler was married twice and had four children.