The Four Dimensions of Philosophy

There have traditionally been two approaches to works that introduce this amorphorous "philosophy" thing to lay readers. The first is the "topical kind," providing explanations of the various questions and methods of philosophy and the second is the "historical kind" that introduces the main western philosophers and their ideas. Mr. Adler's book, while leaning to the former, is a clever admixture of the two systems. He provides a clear, though at times, as he admits, limited, critique of post-Rennaissance philosophy (indeed, he expounds on this critique elsewhere). However, what is the most valuable element of this work is the discourse on the nature of the philosophical pursuits which Mr. Adler provides. Indeed, in this book are planted the seeds of a "Structure of Philosophical Revolutions." To the ever-so-unanswerable question of what the point of philosophy itself is, Mr. Adler presents a passionate defense of his discipline in light of its criticisms from the rest of the world. Albeit Mr. Adler's view on the importance of Aristotle and the blatant errors of modern philosophers are anything but a settled matter amongst any students of philosophy, for anybody curious to get a fresh, no-nonsense and, best of all, readable insight into the nature of philosophical inquiry itself it is a work I highly recommend. To all other less-lofty readers I recommend it highly as well, though with four stars, as the reviewer disagrees with some of Mr. Adler's conclusions on the importance and correctness of Aristotle.