Customer Reviews

Six Great Ideas

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The philosophical divide in our culture has never been so apparent as simply reading the reviews of this book. Some fault Adler for references to ethics - as if morality had no place in philosophical thought. Others fault him for using common sense (as if that were a crime) and speaking in everyday language. Others thought he was grand because he is a deist.

Adler has written other books, better books, but one thing I like about all his books is their knack for inviting cogent comment and discussion. If only for that reason, they are important works that should be at least perused. Adler has offered radical plans for education and educators - a concrete program few have tried. The heart of this program is getting children to think, challenging their common assumptions and making them think why they think the way they do.

But to Adler this does not mean imbuing them with a political revolutionary zeal for "change". It means questioning their assumptions and defining what is important. With that in mind he wrote "Six Great Ideas", some of which are interrelated. To some, these ideas are dated but what he makes clear is that all six of these are universals and, because of their relationship to people, always will be.

For a better discussion of ideas get his 101 Great Ideas.

No clearer indication of the philosophical divide in this nation can be seen than by reading the reviews in Amazon of the works of Mortimer Adler. One group of reviewers are geniunely concerned that he has a Western orientation, that he defends such ideas as democracy and capitalism, that he seems to speak for common sense, tradition and classical liberalism. There is another group that supports him wholeheartedly because of these very views and his sympathetic voice toward religion.

TEN PHILOSOPHICAL MISTAKES is an exploration of notions that he considers small mistakes that occurred in the past. The effect of these mistakes is compounded over time until they produce a difference in the way we view ourselves and our reality. He explores each of these mistakes in detail.

Guiding Adler's thinking is a reliance on the works of Aristotle and a look at both Greek and classical European methods of learning and teaching. Also important is his view of humans as rational animals who differ from other animals - not in degree but in kind.

He has made radical proposals for education and reintroducing thinking to the classroom. This is done not through a predictable "challenge to the system" but through the Socratic method. Ironically, this method was widely used in the Arab world at the height of its power before being subsumed by theocratic stipulations. This is a good book, not flawless, but one that is well worth five stars.

This book changed my life. Many people nowadays think that philosophy is an ivory tower excercise. It is not. And it is not impractical. This book had a profound impact on my thinking. It is very reasonable philosophy that led me to hunger for the nobler things in life. I highly suggest this book, especially to those who have never learned philosophy or have only learned philosophy from rationalists on.

Adler is great at relaying difficult philosophical truths to contemporary audiences with little to no background in philosophy. The philosophical positions accurately put forth in this book are those of Aristotle and the classical realist tradition. A truly valuable and important work.

This book was assigned to me in college (1995), and I concider it the most valuable book I've have ever purchased. The six ideas have proved to be an excellent philosophical base from which sound conclusions can be made regarding today's confusing, and sometimes convoluted, issues. Alder's six ideas have changed the way I view every aspect of my life. This is a "must read" text! P.S. This book is not offensive to those of us who have faith or believe in God.

How can you vote in the best interest of the country if you don't understand what is true, what is a lie or what is untrue (those are not the same) Were Powels UN statements lies or untrue? Were those calling Powel and Bush liars, themselves liars? How can you vote for the best candidate if you don't understand good from evil from bad? How can you be a good citizen and apply justice, liberty, and equality in your daily living if you can't explain those ideas. What is the pursuit of happiness? These ideas are what America is supposed to be about but if you don't understand these ideas how can you make sure we are on the right track or not.

Adler is one of there great minds and writers of the last century. His easy to read and precisely worded books will teach you how to think for your self and judge others and live a good life so that you will be happy. If you can't distinguish wants from needs you will be more stressed by following a chaotic (maybe pleasurable) path in your life but will never be happy and content. This is the best book to start with. Then move on to Philosophical Mistakes, How to Read, Aristotle Made Easy, and most importantly the syntopticon. If you take this book to heart and live by it, it will change your life and will help you see who is fair and balanced and who is lying to you to advance their misguided (at best) agenda. It will give you the best chance for happiness.

This book, like most of Adler's works, are meant to be introductory and to shed just enought light on rational thought and evolution of understanding to encourage ratiocination and an auto-didactic journey to the Great Thinkers. A Ph.D in Philosophy allowed me to read Aristotle in Greek which is a major advantage even though his works were re-translated from Persian by Persian Philosphers who recieved them in Greek from Phillip of Macedon, a student of Aristotle, who, as son of Alexander the Great, took the works of Aristotle to Persia on Alexander's famous journey East. The original Greek works were destroyed during the Dark Ages in Europe which limits the re-translations in some nuance made up for, however, by Aquinas to a great extent.

Any negative criticism of Adler's works can only be limited to issues to accessibility and some simplification that making philosophy accesible to the layman necessarily involves. To that extent, any negative reviews are to be taken as amateur comments of very ponderous matters and the efforts of making them acessible.

As you read this book, it will feel like a conversation with yourself. Some things are very conclusive. Given the starting point, you will reach the same conclusions as the author and not be very surprised to read the same.. as there is not much variation possible, especially when we are talking about limiting ideas like truth. The book wont seem an interesting read until your definitions are challenged or you have been introduced to a question like as Adler asks,"What, then,leads one to philosophy in the middle- not as clearly in the sphere of truth as mathematics and experimental science, nor as clearly in the sphere of taste as styles of cuisine or dress?"
This is a book which you can read years later and still find that it has something new to offer.

Adler must be given his due for making philosophy more accessible to the average, non-professional reader. He deliberately tackles six classical ideas and gives reasons for their importance. For the non-specialist, these six essays may provoke interesting discussion and dialectic, or perhaps starting points for further inquiry.

Such topics as beauty, truth, justice, etc. often have been lost in philosophy for the narrower, Anglo-American analysis of propositional logic. That doesn't means Adler's ideas are useless or less interesting, but they aren't the type of topics one encounters in most academic philosophy departments, for good or ill.

Of all Adler's books, this is far my least favorite. It concerns itself with essences, something that has given way to Wittgenstein's "family of resemblances." Talking about "essences" is antediluvian, unless, like Adler, you're an Aristotlean. Reading about such abstract concepts -- the six great ideas, is rather like talking about "red" with someone. There's not much one can really do or say about "red," except to point out examples. I'm afraid that Adler has boxed himself into a corner by pursuing such absract concepts like "liberty" as if it were any different than "red."

It's not that I oppose Adler's good intentions; I really wish his kind of philosophy was more visible, tackling some of these important concepts in an intellectually rigorous manner. But ambiguity raises its ugly head, and the student of philosophy is left bereft of very important philosophical concepts.

Tackling enormous concepts without intellectual rigor seems rather useless and pointless. Thus, two stars for effort, but really no stars for success. Yet, if one really wants a place to start his or her inquiry, this little book may be of singular importance.

This is a "must, " for anyone who wants to think! Noone should graduate college without reading it.