Sunday Quote: Adler & VanDoren on Mental Exercise

"The mind can atrophy, like the muscles, if it is not used. Atrophy of the mental muscles is the penalty that we pay for not taking mental exercise. And this is a terrible penalty, for there is evidence that atrophy of the mind is a mortal disease."

- Mortimer J. Adler
& Charles Van Doren

Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1972), p. 345.

[HT: Ken Samples]

Mortimer J. Adler on Faith and Reason

"I suspect that most of the individuals who have religious faith are content with blind faith. They feel no obligation to understand what they believe. They may even wish not to have their beliefs disturbed by thought. But if God in whom they believe created them with intellectual and rational powers, that imposes upon them the duty to try to understand the creed of their religion. Not to do so is to verge on superstition."

- Mortimer J. Adler

Mortimer J. Adler, "A Philosopher’s Religious Faith," in Kelly James-Clark (ed.), Philosophers Who Believe: The Spiritual Journeys of Eleven Leading Thinkers (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), p. 207.

Uninformed, Misinformed, Illogical, Incomplete

Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren, in their classic book How to Read a Book (p.156-161), discuss the topic of agreeing or disagreeing with an author. There is one particular section that stands out for those who are seeking to become good critical readers, as well as good critical thinkers. The authors mention, "four ways in which a book can be adversely criticized." And their hope is that, "if a reader confines himself to making these points, he will be less likely to indulge in expressions of emotion or prejudice." These four points apply beyond just reading.

Sunday Quote: Mortimer Adler on the God Question

“More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than from answering any other basic question.”

- Mortimer Adler


(Great Books of the Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952), p. 561.)