The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense [Paperback]

Mortimer J. Adler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0823216705 | ISBN-13: 978-0823216703 | Publication Date: January 1, 1996 | Edition: 2

Is it a good time to be alive? Is ours a good society to be alive in? Is it possible to have a good life in our time? And finally, does a good life consist of having a good time? Are happiness and a good lifeinterchangeable? These are the questions that Mortimer Adler addresses himself to. The heart of the book lies in its conception of the good life for man, which provides the standard for measuring a century, a society, or a culture: for upon that turns the meaning of each man's primary moral right - his right to the pursuit of happiness. The moral philosophy that Dr. Adler expounds in terms of this conception he calls the ethics of common sense,because it is as a defense and development of the common-sense answer to the question can I really make a good life for myself?

Editorial Reviews

Review

Adler (director, Institute for Philosophical Research) lays the groundwork for a common sense approach to the problem of making a good life and evaluating that life in reference to the merits of present society. He offers standards by which to judge the merits of our time against those of previous centuries and other cultures, and shows the ways in which a culture encourages or discourages the individual in his or her efforts to make a good life. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Mortimer J. Adler was the director of the Institute for Philosophical Research in Chicago and a member of the board of editors of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Product Details

• Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: Fordham University Press; 2 edition (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823216705
• ISBN-13: 978-0823216703
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #643,813 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding! An intelligent, readable theory of ethics, July 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense (Paperback)

Adler poses a theory of ethics for everyone. It is necessarily lacking in practical terms, as everyone is different, but it provides a theoretical foundation that is applicable to everyone. It provides a foundation for ethical theory--why ethics is important and what rights are needed to ensure we can succeed in our pursuit of the good life. Following the Aristotelian tradition, it lays out the importance of improving oneself and (in true common sense style) ranks improving oneself higher than pursuits for pure pleasure--which provide no lasting "good" after the pleasure has been experienced. To suggest, as another reviewer from MN has, that this means it is "bad" to go on a vacation, stems clearly from a failure to understand the book. (If you've read Ayn Rand and then read criticisms which say she is a hedonist who steps on others for her own pleasure, you have a good idea of the error made here.) And indeed, it takes nothing more than common sense to know that if someone goes to a bar everyday, his life won't--in the end--be as "good" as someone who devotes the time to improving himself. But this text requires the ability to apply its principles to each individual. It is as sound an ethical theory as anyone can possibly formulate, but again, for Joe Sixpack, the devil is in the details.

6 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but I don't buy the thesis, March 30, 2002

By 

P. Zrimsek "zrim" (Northfield, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense (Paperback)

In a nutshell the theme of this book harkens back to Socrates: A life not examined is not worth living. This certainly has some merit among those people who have the intellect to do so. However, Adler thinks that every person should spend a great deal of time at intellectual pursuits, in intellectual self-improvement and finally at intellectual introspection. As such, he then attacks the more common pursuits: television, alcohol, the accumulation of material objects. It seems as though Adler has a harsh word for everyone except himself and his ivory tower peers (those peers who think the way he does, for he has no fondness for "beatniks, hippies, self-alienated refugees from reason or existentialist cop-outs".

Adler states that we are all victims of a society that stresses the importance of sensual pleasures and frivilous commodities and a society that does not clearly delineate the between the "frivilous and serious use of free time." I guess the average worker should be ashamed of his or herself for hitting the bars after work or using their hard earned paycheck to indulge in a Caribbean vacation.

Adler's philosophy of the "Good Life" is fine for eggheads (and the book is thought provoking if you take the time to work through it) but I cannot go along with the idea that it should be a blueprint for living the "Good Life" for all mankind.