Aristotle for Everybody or Difficult Thought Made Easy

Mortimer Adler is one of my favorite philosophers because; he can take complex philosophical ideas and make them understandable for the non-philosopher. This is a great skill that few philosophers posses and one of the reasons why ordinary people do not read philosophy. In this book, Adler distills Aristotle's thoughts on metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy. My major interest is in political philosophy, how do humans create a better society to live in? Aristotle builds a case for the need all of us to strive to live the "good life." A few of Aristotle's quotes are in order to delineate his thinking. "That which is really `good' for us is something we always ought to desire because we need it." "A good life is one that has been lived by making morally virtuous choices or decisions." Aristotle was the first philosopher to label man as "a social animal." "Human beings can not live well or achieve the best lives for themselves, by living well or achieve the best lives for themselves, by living together in families and tribes." To achieve this "good life" we must live in states. So, what is the best state? The best state provides a guarantee of freedoms, less economic regulation, provide a safety net for people with bad luck, provide a good education so that we can be trained to make us morally virtuous citizens.

I cannot sing Adler's praises enough; he does a great job of simplifying Aristotle's concepts. A great beginning book on philosophy, which delves into the teachings of the most brilliant person in history.

As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy, I found this to be a great book to continue one's journey into political philosophy.

Here is a book that is an excellent companion to any introductory philosophy course, to help the student untangle the elliptical arguments of the venerable Aristotle. The author explains in plain English, with concrete everyday examples, some of Aristotle's basic concepts. Read this book first and then tackle Aristotle. This book also makes for good reading on its own.