Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon

By Mortimer J. Adler

Book Overview

Stimulating, engaging, and organized in an easy-to-use, A-to-Z format, Adler's Philosophical Dictionary is an ideal introduction to the history of the great ideas.

The terms and concepts that have simulated thinkers from Aristotle onward come to life in the latest work by the man TIME magazine has called "America's philosopher for everyman." Is the human soul immortal? What does it mean to know something? What is the nature of erotic love? Adler examines these questions as well as many others with his trademark clarity, rigor, and common sense.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684822717
• ISBN13: 9780684822716
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Real definitions for the real world.

For the majority of humankind the world is a real place and we share common experiences. If you are one of the many who share this worldview than this dictionary will help you get a better feel for questions concerning everyday life. This is not a professional philosophers dictionary but an amateur one. We should all be amateur philosophers degreed or not.

Philosophy Qua Philosophy

Mortimer Adler, one of America's great philosophers and educators (taught at Columbia and Chicago), does philosophy in the grand style. His writing is at once lucid and luminous, a rarity in contemporary philosophy. I am a little perplexed by the last review, making Adler out to be a Christian proselytizer, since he is, after all, a self-described "Jewish pagan/agnostic". Adler is an Aristotelian, and his philosophical dictionary does, indeed, reflect that. Though, I think an honest and intelligent reader will, after having read Adler-- either this work or his others--, come to the conclusion that they, too, are Aristotelian.It took me quite a view years-- even after having taken a philosophy degree (Cum Laude)-- to realize that I'm an Aristotelian.If you really want to learn philosophy (philosophy qua philosophy), i.e., for the love of wisdom and not sophistry, then _Adler's Philosophical Dictionary_ is THE place to start. You will, in my honest opinion, get a better philosophical education from this book than most university students get in two years.