''Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy'' is a 1978 book by the philosopher

Mortimer J. Adler Mortimer Jerome Adler (December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for long stretches in N ...

. It serves as an "''introduction to common sense''" and philosophic thinking, for which there is "''no better teacher than

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

''," and which is "''everybody's business,''" in his opinion.pp. ix-xx

Summary

Aristotle was a "common sense" philosopher whose depth and uniqueness of thought made his common sense "uncommon, according to Adler's thesis, in contrast to his teacher

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, whose ideas may be considered more abstract and

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

. While Adler criticizes Aristotle for accepting the conventional views of his day regarding the supposed inferiority of women, and greek slavery, he nonetheless asserts that Aristotle is the best introduction to philosophical thinking and a philosopher with insights that are still relevant and useful today. Adler acknowledges that Aristotle's own writings are difficult for a layperson, and so the author decided to create a more accessible introduction to Aristotle's thought. " Man the Maker" focuses on the use of "productive reason", Aristotle's views on excellence in craftsmanship (the ancient Greek concept of

techne In philosophy, techne (; , ) is a term that refers to making or doing, which in turn is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "Teks-" meaning "to weave," also "to fabricate". As an activity, ''technē'' is concrete, variable, and context-dep ...

). " Man the Doer" on "practical reason", Aristotle's

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

and his concept of moral

virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards ...

(both personal and political), and " Man the Knower" on "theoretical reason", knowledge (

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epis ...

) and

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premise ...

. The final part of the book is called "Difficult Philosophical Questions," and in it Adler tries to apply Aristotle's views to infinity,

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempit ...

, the immateriality of the mind, and the Gods (the Greeks believed in many gods). The book concludes with an

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

listing the specific writings of Aristotle that Adler drew upon for his book so that interested readers can consult those works directly. This is given in the section below.

Part I: Aristotle's Universe of Discourse: His Categories and his Taxonomy an the Philosophical Animal

Adler explains that according to Aristotle human beings are distinguished from all other animals by having the ability to ask philosophical questions. Adler also explains how Aristotle excelled at classification, and that identifying distinctive features of phenomena (what makes something uniquely itself and not something else) was a key characteristic of Aristotle's thought.

1. Aristotle's Fourfold Classification of Sensible, Material Substances: Inorganic Bodies, Plants, Animals, Men. hilosophical Games

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

I.1 *

On the Soul ''On the Soul'' (Greek: , ''Peri Psychēs''; Latin: ''De Anima'') is a major treatise written by Aristotle c. 350 BC. His discussion centres on the kinds of souls possessed by different kinds of living things, distinguished by their different op ...

I.1 I.5; II.1-3,5,9; III.3,12 *

History of Animals ''History of Animals'' ( grc-gre, Τῶν περὶ τὰ ζῷα ἱστοριῶν, ''Ton peri ta zoia historion'', "Inquiries on Animals"; la, Historia Animalium, "History of Animals") is one of the major texts on biology by the ancient Gr ...

VIII.1 X.1 *

Generation of Animals The ''Generation of Animals'' (or ''On the Generation of Animals''; Greek: ''Περὶ ζῴων γενέσεως'' (''Peri Zoion Geneseos''); Latin: ''De Generatione Animalium'') is one of the biological works of the Corpus Aristotelicum, the col ...

I.1-9 IV.4-6 *

Parts of Animals ''Parts of Animals'' (or ''On the Parts of Animals''; Greek Περὶ ζῴων μορίων; Latin ''De Partibus Animalium'') is one of Aristotle's major texts on biology. It was written around 350 BC. The whole work is roughly a study in animal ...

I.4-5 The difference between

essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

and accident. *

Categories Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) * ...

V *

V.4,11; IX.8

2. The Range of Beings: The Ten Categories he Great Divide

3. Productive, Practical, and Theoretic Reason or Mind an's Three Dimensions

Aristotle's classification of three activities of a human being: making, doing, and knowing, corresponding to the three types of reason: productive, practical, and theoretical. Adler titles these sections "Man the Maker," "Man the Doer," and "Man the Knower," respectively. Ethics VI.2-4 On the Soul, III.7

Part II: Aristotle's philosophy of Nature and of Art. an the Maker

In response to the errors and partial truths of: * Parmenides and his disciple

Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...

and his disciple Cratylus Aristotle developed his theory of change. It involves distinction between

rest Rest or REST may refer to: Relief from activity * Sleep ** Bed rest * Kneeling * Lying (position) * Sitting * Squatting position Structural support * Structural support ** Rest (cue sports) ** Armrest ** Headrest ** Footrest Arts and enter ...

and movement. In local motion, there is a distinction between natural movement and violent movement. There is also change in quality, such as when a green tomato ripens and becomes red. This type of change can be either natural or artificial, for example a green chair can be painted red. There can be a change in quantity. There can also be generation and corruption - coming to be and passing away. Aristotle takes note of what we now call

conservation of matter In physics and chemistry, the law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as the system's mass ca ...

. 4. Nature as artist and the human artist as imitator of nature 5. Three main modes of accidental change: change of place, change of quality, change of quantity 6. Aristotle's doctrine of the

four causes The four causes or four explanations are, in Aristotelian thought, four fundamental types of answer to the question "why?", in analysis of change or movement in nature: the material, the formal, the efficient, and the final. Aristotle wrote th ...

: efficient, material, formal, and final. Physics
II.3-9
Metaphysics I.3-10, V.3, VI.2-3, VII.17, VIII.2-4, IX.8, XII.4-5 7. Further developments in the theory of

Potentiality and Actuality In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', ''Nicomachean Ethics'', and '' De Anima''. The ...

, and Matter and Form, especially with respect to substantial change, or Generation and Corruption. o Be or Not to Be 8. Aristotle's analysis of the intellectual factors in artistic production and his classification of the arts roductive ideas and know-how

Part III: Man the Doer

Part IV: Man the Knower

Part V: Difficult Philosophical Questions

References

* * * {{Cite book, last=Barnes, first=Jonathan, author-link=Jonathan Barnes, title=Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, publisher=Oxford University Press, year=2000, isbn=978-0-19-285408-7

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1978 non-fiction books Books by Mortimer J. Adler English-language books Philosophy books Works about Aristotle Macmillan Publishers books