Adler, Mortimer Jerome (1902-2001), was an American critic and educator. From 1930 to 1952, he taught philosophy and the philosophy of law at the University of Chicago. With Robert Hutchins, he established the Great Books program in 1946 and devised a Syntopicon, or index of great ideas. In 1982, he and associates introduced the Paideia curriculum, a program of guided reading and discussion of difficult works for grade school students. Adler served as director of planning for a new edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, which was published in 1974.
Adler was born on Dec. 28, 1902, in New York City and received his Ph.D. degree at Columbia University. He founded the Institute for Philosophical Research in 1952. One of Adler’s more popular works is How to Read a Book (1940). He died on June 28, 2001.
