Cultivating New Audiences: Aristotle—and Adler—for Everybody

Tim Lacy, at the Society for U.S. Intellectual History.

"This is an 1800 word piece cut from my book’s* 1980s chapter, 'The Poobah of Popularizers’: Paideia, Pluralism, and the Culture Wars, 1978-1988.' In this section, removed during the last possible round of trimming, I argued that Mortimer Adler’s 1978 book, Aristotle for Everybody, relaunched his career as a public intellectual. Although Adler proclaimed himself an Aristotelian in the 1950s, after 20 some years as a neo-Thomist, it was this book that attempted to directly explain what it meant to be a twentieth-century Aristotelian. The decision to cut this piece was very difficult. Aristotle for Everybody signaled a new, highly accessible writing style that would greatly contribute to Adler’s 1980s resurgence as a public figure. The section also contained some useful repetition in relation to prior chapters—reminders for my reading audience. Finally, Adler’s new book also raised questions about his views of the accessibility of certain ‘great books’ in relation to fostering a viable 'public philosophy.'"

*Dreams of a Democratic Culture: Mortimer J. Adler and the Great Books Idea (2013) -TB