Mortimer Adler Quotes

Critical thinking does seem a superior sort of thinking because it seems as though the critic is actually going beyond the scope of what is being criticized in order to criticize it. That is only rarely a true assumption because, most often, the critic will seize on some little aspect that he or she understands and tackle only that.

We should be similarly wary of accepting common opinions; we should judge them by the ways of reason not by popular vote.

A Vulgar Mechanick can practice what he has been taught or seen done, but if he is in an error he knows not how to find it out and correct it, and if you put him out of his road he is at a stand. Whereas he that is able to reason nimbly and judiciously about figure, force, and motion, is never at rest till he gets over every rub. (from a letter dated 25 May, 1694)

Reason can be used only when looking critically back.

Reason is the test of ridicule, not ridicule the test of truth.

Making distinctions is part of learning. So is making mistakes.

Part of what it is to be scientifically-literate, it's not simply, 'Do you know what DNA is? Or what the Big Bang is?' That's an aspect of science literacy. The biggest part of it is do you know how to think about information that's presented in front of you.

My mother cared more about how you reasoned than about the conclusions you reached.

You've never seen me debate anybody. On anything. Ever. My investment of time, as an educator, in my judgment, is best served teaching people how to think about the world around them. Teach them how to pose a question. How to judge whether one thing is true versus another. What the laws of physics say.

First, he must hold rational values, and to do this he must be a thinker.

I find that quite enjoyable, trying to see the downsides of someone.

We're not too out there to educate people about any specific thing necessarily so much as we are to encourage critical and scientific thinking.

When a critic or journalist writes, 'It's too complex,' or, 'It's full of plot holes,' they very rarely take the step of identifying what they mean. The reason they do that is to protect themselves, because they don't want to reveal that they may have misunderstood or missed something.

I think the most important thing that young people should be taught at school is how they can decide what they're being told is true.

What I learned in school made me a better journalist and a better writer because forensic science is, as scientific disciplines must be, about critical thinking and objective analysis.

The first thing you get from the humanities, when they're well taught, is critical thinking. Philosophy in particular can play that role, not just in universities but in schools as well.

If you try to use your head to think about things, people don't want to have anything to do with you

Thus we should beware of clinging to vulgar opinions, and judge things by reason's way, not by popular say.

You know my methods. Apply them.

We do not at present educate people to think but, rather, to have opinions, and that is something altogether different.

The only way to get ahead is to find errors in conventional wisdom.

Treat with utmost respect your power of forming opinions, for this power alone guards you against making assumptions that are contrary to nature and judgments that overthrow the rule of reason.

If logic itself is created rather than being inborn, it follows that the first task of education is to form reasoning.

I think we are used to being critical and evaluating ideas.

Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.