Subj : Everyone's Philosopher
To   : LEE LOFASO
From : Frank Masingill
Date : Wed Jul 18 2001 07:57 pm

 > Dr. Adler viewed philosophy not as a field for some, but rather an
 > endeavor for many - as the title of a journal he published since the
 > early 90s states, "Philosophy is Everyone's Business."

 > And so it is, "Everyone's Philosopher" has left us for another world,
 > the pursuit of which can only be found at the very end.

    You have not responded to me in a vituperative manner so far so I'll take a 
chance and hazard a reply.  I share your admiration for Adler.  He did, indeed, 
write for people everywhere and in all walks of life.

    If by "another world" (the phrase of Christopher Colombus when he 
discovered the waters of the Orinoco pouring into the sea) is meant the 
timelessness of eternity, (NOT the meaning of Colombus) then one may be certain 
that Adler was purusing this "other world" (in the sense of Aristotle's 
"immortalizing" to the extent that man may do so) his life long.  The questions 
everyman has to ask (unless he is silly enough to rely on the garbable heap of 
private opinion) are the same questions asked throughout this mysterious 
reality of man by saints, philosophers and prophets.   Philosophy as a private 
affair pursued in an immanent world is almost unthinkable despite the unhappy 
realization that as Parmendides discovered the "not is" is as real as the "is" 
in the world of the marketplace where a Socrates has to contend with the 
Calicles taught by the Gorgias and sidekicked by the Polus.

    Philosophy is STILL the love of being unto its source in the divine ground 
of being just as it was conceived to be by its founder and definer, Plato.  All 
else is the love of doctrine and private hubris on a grand scale.  It does not 
belong to the builders of systems and is BY FAR not confined to those who 
merely call themselves philosophers.  Adler's love was for the Great Books of 
the world  (genuine thought).

    It is by definition a pursuit of man even though it has lost its way quite 
often, especially for those dedicated to living in a world of "post this and 
post that" rather than in the present under God which is the existence that 
defines man as human.

Frank

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 * Origin: Frank's House (1:396/45.12)

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