Rating: 
Summary: Everybody loves Aristotle (not Onassis)
Review: Reading this book almost made me want to go and read Aristotle's Metaphysics. Almost. It is to the works of Aristotle that the phrase 'eyes glazed over' most aptly applies. Fortunately, we've got Aristotle for Everybody. Mortimer Adler has written a popular level exposition of Aristotle's main ideas. Adler writes, "Almost all of the philosophical truths that I have come to know and understand I have learned from Aristotle." The intended target age for readers is 12 years old and up. Somehow, I doubt many 12 year olds will be clamouring for this book ( or any philosophy book), but hopefully there will be some. Why? Because we all use philosophy in our lives. Most of us just don't realize it. Adler writes, "Philosophy is everybody's business...(it) helps us to understand things we already know, (to) understand them better than we now understand them." The book contains 5 main sections: 1)Man the Philosophical Animal; 2)Man the Maker(Aristotle's Philosophy of Nature and Art); 3)Man the Doer(Aristotle's Moral and Political Philosophy); 4)Man the Knower(Aristotle's Psychology, Logic, and Theory of Knowledge); 5)Difficult Philosophical Questions(Aristotle's Cosmology and Theology).There is also an epilogue which lists the various works of Aristotle from which Adler culled the information included in each of the (short) chapters. Anyone who's ever wondered what Aristotle was all about should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Everybody loves Aristotle (not Onassis)
Review: Reading this book almost made me want to go and read Aristotle's Metaphysics. Almost. It is to the works of Aristotle that the phrase 'eyes glazed over' most aptly applies. Fortunately, we've got Aristotle for Everybody. Mortimer Adler has written a popular level exposition of Aristotle's main ideas. Adler writes, "Almost all of the philosophical truths that I have come to know and understand I have learned from Aristotle." The intended target age for readers is 12 years old and up. Somehow, I doubt many 12 year olds will be clamouring for this book ( or any philosophy book), but hopefully there will be some. Why? Because we all use philosophy in our lives. Most of us just don't realize it. Adler writes, "Philosophy is everybody's business...(it) helps us to understand things we already know, (to) understand them better than we now understand them." The book contains 5 main sections: 1)Man the Philosophical Animal; 2)Man the Maker(Aristotle's Philosophy of Nature and Art); 3)Man the Doer(Aristotle's Moral and Political Philosophy); 4)Man the Knower(Aristotle's Psychology, Logic, and Theory of Knowledge); 5)Difficult Philosophical Questions(Aristotle's Cosmology and Theology). There is also an epilogue which lists the various works of Aristotle from which Adler culled the information included in each of the (short) chapters. Anyone who's ever wondered what Aristotle was all about should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Review of Adler, _Aristotle for Everybody_
Review: Review of Adler, _Aristotle for Everybody_ For Adler philosophy is informed by the concept of "uncommon common sense" (p xiv) which is "the refinement of common sense by philosophical reflection" (p 167). This notion grounds philosophy firmly in the everyday experience of the world. I will not summarize Adler's book; it is itself a summary of Aristotle's major thoughts (and in an Epilogue, references to Aristotle's works are given for each chapter). I will instead concentrate on some major issues which arise. Aristotle provides an explanation/description of the world by means of two fundamental pairs of concepts: matter and form, potentiality and actuality. Matter in itself is pure potentiality and does not exist in actuality (while God is pure actuality and has no potentiality). Forms are the aspects of things which allow us to perceive new instances; they become ideas in our minds. (Ideas, immaterial entities which result from the apprehension of the forms of things by the human mind, simply ARE the "concepts" which writers on meaning so often refer to. This is dealt with in detail in Adler's _Some Questions About Language_) Aristotle objected to the atomism of Leucippus and Democritus (atoms are the smallest units of matter, infinite in number, and indivisible) on two grounds: (a) that nothing can both be an ultimate unit of matter and be indivisible. Either it has a void, some empty space, inside it (in which case it is not an ultimate unit of matter) or it does not and the matter is continuous (in which case it is divisible, for whatever is continuous is infinitely divisible); (b) an infinite number of things cannot actually co-exist at any moment of time. This looks like inconsistency: he speaks of an infinite number of cuts, yet says an infinity is impossible. The difficulty is resolved by the distinction between the potential and the actual: for Aristotle there are two potential infinities, neither one of them actual: a potential infinite number of divisions, and a potential infinity of addition. Take addition: you cannot say there is a last integer, BUT you cannot actually carry out the infinite addition. Aristotle did believe in the infinity of time (in fact, in an eternal universe). But for him it did not exist all at the same moment. No two moments of time co-exist. Time can be infinite because its moments do not co-exist. When a given moment arrives, the last one no longer exists. Aristotle recognized two kinds of eternity: (a) timelessness (a state outside of time) (b) unending and unbeginning time. The universe was eternal in sense (b); God was eternal in sense (a). The distinction rests on his notion that time is a measure of motion or change. It follows that time has no beginning or end if motion/change has no beginning or end. But why did he believe that motion/change has no beginning or end? A hard question, deferred to the final chapter; but Adler does not in fact come back to it. The universe, being eternal, does not need a _First_ Mover, but it needs a (necessarily existing) _Prime_ Mover. While the question of why Aristotle believed that motion/change has no beginning or end remains unanswered, we can see fairly clearly why he believed no beginning or end was needed: _potential_ infinities are OK. After all, we need potential infinities for the lowly number series anyway. Material things have an immaterial aspect, namely, form. Form is not shape; it is idea. The mind is the form of forms. It must itself be immaterial in order to keep or hold forms separate from matter. Unlike sensing and perceiving, knowing does not involve any material organ, not even the brain. But the mind may be related to the brain. The Prime Mover did not create the universe (since the universe is eternal) but rather keeps all things in eternal motion/change. The question Aristotle did not raise is: since the universe does not exist necessarily, what keeps it in _existence_ (let alone motion/change)? I heartily recommend the book; and following upon it one might well read something on St. Thomas Aquinas, who dealt with some of the matters which were problematic for Aristotle. Ken Miner
Rating:
Summary: A Pleasurable Read
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Pleasurable Read
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Philosophy made fun for anyone who wants to enjoy it!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Philosophy made fun for anyone who wants to enjoy it!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Christian Spin on Aristotle
Review: This is not an objective presentation of Aristotle's thinking but rather it's Mr. Adler's wishful interpretation of Aristotle as some sort of Christian. Many better books are available on Aristotle.
Rating:
Summary: Nice introduction
Review: 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.
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