标题：莫提默·J.艾德勒
简介
莫提默·J.艾德勒(Mortimer J.Adler，1902—2001)
  莫提默·J.艾德勒
以学者、教育家、编辑等多重面貌享有盛名。除了写作《如何阅读一本书》外，以主编《西方世界德经典》，并担任1974年第十五版《大英百科全书》的编辑指导而闻名于世。
生于纽约。他在芝加哥大学执教（1930－1952）时，于1946年帮助策划了“名著计划”，1952年起任哲学研究所所长。他在他的著作中普及推广西方文明的伟大思想，如《西方世界的伟大著作》（Great Books of the Western World54卷，1954，1990年重新修订）、《怎样阅读》（How to Read a Book，1940、1972年重新修订）以及《六种伟大思想》（Six Great Ideas，1981）等，因而以学者、教育家、编辑人等多重面貌享有盛名。曾任大观念研究中心的名誉主席，是该中心的最初发起者之一；并担任1974年第十五版《大英百科全书》的编辑指导。
生平
阿德勒于1902年12月28日出生在美国纽约市的一个犹太移民家庭。14岁从中学辍学后，成为纽约太阳报的送稿人员，他当时立志想要成为一名记者。不久，阿德勒开始在夜间学习写作课程，从中他发现以下作者堪称英雄:柏拉图、亚里斯多德、托马斯·阿奎那、约翰·洛克、约翰·斯图尔特·密尔等等。之后，他进入哥伦比亚大学继续学习，同时还向学生文艺杂志投稿。尽管由于没能通过必修的游泳测验，而没能获得学士学位（1983年，哥伦比亚大学授予了他一个荣誉学位以作为补偿），阿德勒还是留在了大学，最终得到了一个讲师的位置，并获得了心理学博士学位。
1930年，阿德勒前往芝加哥大学，并由之前认识的朋友、新任校长罗伯特·梅纳德·哈钦斯安排为芝加哥大学法学院的法律哲学教授。然而他受到了芝加哥的一些哲学家的质疑，这些人对他“能否胜任哲学教授这个职责怀有重大疑问”，并且抵制阿德勒成为该大学哲学系的一分子。而同时，阿德勒也是该学校法学院有史以来第一个非律师出身的教师。
他是西方世界伟大名著项目的发起人。
主要著作
Dialectic (1927)
The Nature of Judicial Proof: An Inquiry into the Logical, Legal, and Empirical Aspects of the Law of Evidence (1931, 合著者 Jerome Michael)
Diagrammatics (1932, 合著者 Maude Phelps Hutchins)
Crime, Law and Social Science (1933, 合著者Jerome Michael)
Art and Prudence: A Study in Practical Philosophy (1937)
What Man Has Made of Man: A Study of the Consequences of Platonism and Positivism in Psychology (1937)
St. Thomas and the Gentiles (1938)
The Philosophy and Science of Man: A Collection of Texts as a Foundation for Ethics and Politics (1940)
How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education (1940)
A Dialectic of Morals: Towards the Foundations of Political Philosophy (1941)
How to Think About War and Peace (1944)
The Revolution in Education (1944, 合著者 Milton Mayer)
The Capitalist Manifesto (1958,合著者 Louis O. Kelso)
The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Conceptions of Freedom (1958)
The New Capitalists: A Proposal to Free Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings (1961,合著者 Louis O. Kelso)
The Idea of Freedom: A Dialectical Examination of the Controversies about Freedom (1961)
Great Ideas from the Great Books (1961)
The Conditions of Philosophy: Its Checkered Past, Its Present Disorder, and Its Future Promise (1965)
The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes (1967)
The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense (1970)
The Common Sense of Politics (1971)
The American Testament (1975, 合著者William Gorman)
Some Questions About Language: A Theory of Human Discourse and Its Objects (1976)
Philosopher at Large: An Intellectual Autobiography (1977)
Reforming Education: The Schooling of a People and Their Education Beyond Schooling (1977)
Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy (1978)
How to Think About God: A Guide for the 20th-Century Pagan (1980) 
Six Great Ideas: Truth-Goodness-Beauty-Liberty-Equality-Justice (1981) 
The Angels and Us (1982)
The Paideia Proposal: An Educational Manifesto (1982)
How to Speak / How to Listen (1983) 
Paideia Problems and Possibilities: A Consideration of Questions Raised by The Paideia Proposal (1983)
A Vision of the Future: Twelve Ideas for a Better Life and a Better Society (1984)
The Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus (1984)
Ten Philosophical Mistakes (1985)
A Guidebook to Learning: For a Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom (1986)
We Hold These Truths: Understanding the Ideas and Ideals of the Constitution (1987)
Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind (1988, edited by Geraldine Van Doren)
Intellect: Mind Over Matter (1990)
Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth (1990) ISBN 0-02-064140-0
Haves Without Have-Nots: Essays for the 21st Century on Democracy and Socialism (1991) ISBN 0-02-500561-8
Desires, Right & Wrong: The Ethics of Enough (1991)
A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher At Large (1992)
The Great Ideas: A Lexicon of Western Thought (1992)
Natural Theology, Chance, and God (The Great Ideas Today, 1992)
The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical-Moral-Objective-Categorical (1993)
Art, the Arts, and the Great Ideas (1994)
Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon (1995)