Mortimer J. Adler
Mortimer J. Adler was an influential American philosopher, educator, and author, born on December 28, 1902, in New York City. He exhibited academic excellence from a young age, but his educational journey was marked by challenges, including a tumultuous high school experience that led him to leave school early. Adler pursued higher education at Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D. in psychology and became known for his advocacy of a classics-based education, influenced by his mentor, John Erskine.
Throughout his career, Adler held significant academic positions, notably at the University of Chicago, where he became a prominent figure in reforming the undergraduate curriculum to emphasize enduring works over contemporary thought. He is perhaps best known for his best-selling book, "How to Read a Book," which outlines his approach to liberal education. Adler was deeply influenced by the writings of classical philosophers and developed an increasing interest in Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism.
In addition to his academic contributions, he played a key role in the Great Books Program, which aimed to promote the study of classic literature through community discussion groups. Adler's legacy includes his work on the "Great Books of the Western World" series and his leadership at the Encyclopædia Britannica. He received several honors during his lifetime and passed away on June 28, 2001. His perspectives on education and truth continue to provoke discussion and reflection in contemporary discourse.
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Mortimer J. Adler
- Born: December 28, 1902
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: June 28, 2001
- Place of death: San Mateo, California
Biography
Mortimer Jerome Adler was born in New York City on December 28, 1902, the son of Ignatz Adler, a jewelry salesman, and Clarissa Manheim Adler, a former schoolteacher. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he was an outstanding student and editor of the school newspaper. However, he left school at fifteen when a quarrel with the principal ended with Adler’s being suspended from the newspaper. He then became secretary to the editor of the New York Sun. At seventeen, after reading Plato’s Dialogues, Adler decided to become a philosopher.
In 1920, Adler entered Columbia University as a scholarship student. In three years, he finished at the top of his class and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. However, because he would not take a required swimming course, he was denied a B.A.; the University finally granted his degree sixty years later. In 1928, he obtained a Ph.D. in psychology.
Adler married Helen Leavenworth Boyton in 1927; they were divorced in 1961. They had two children, Mark Arthur and Michael Boyton. In 1963, Adler married Caroline Sage Pring. They had two sons, Douglas Robert and Philip Pring.
From 1923 to 1930, Adler was an instructor in psychology at Columbia and also lectured at the College of the City of New York and at the People’s Institute. As an undergraduate, Adler had been a protégé of John Erskine, a proponent of classics-based education. After Robert Maynard Hutchins became president of the University of Chicago in 1929, he created the post of associate professor of the philosophy of law so that he could hire Adler despite vocal opposition from the faculty. In 1942, Adler was promoted to full professor.
Both at Chicago and at St. John’s College at Annapolis, Maryland, Adler helped revamp the undergraduate curriculum so that students would study works that had stood the test of time instead of focusing on current thinking, as the pragmatist John Dewey advocated. Adler argued for his views in How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education, which became a best-seller. Other books reflected his admiration for the Greek philosophers and for St. Thomas Aquinas. In later years, Adler became more convinced of the truth of Christianity and of the claims of Roman Catholicism.
Adler was largely responsible for the Great Books Program, which organized hundreds of adult discussion groups to study the classics. He was associate editor of the fifty-four-volume project entitled Great Books of the Western World and editor-in- chief of the Syntopicon, a guide to the series. As chair of the Encyclopædia Britannica’s Board of Directors, Adler spearheaded the reformatting of the reference work.
Adler was awarded an Aquinas Medal by the American Catholic Philosophical Association in 1976 and the Graduate Faculties Alumni Award for Excellence from Columbia University in 1977. He was presented the Wilma and Roswell Messing Award of the St. Louis University Libraries in 1978. Adler died at his home in San Mateo, California, on June 28, 2001. Although in his own day Mortimer Adler had been largely rejected by the academic world, at the beginning of the twenty-first century it appeared that his definition of a liberal education and his insistence that truth is absolute might be worth reconsidering.