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"Aristotle For Everybody; Difficult Thought Made Easy", was my first Adler book. His "10 Philosophical Mistakes." should be a classic. But he makes a terrible philosophical mistake in that book, early on, which puzzles him right up until his old age and death. The Aristotle book, elucidates his mistake.

Kevin

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Can you explain what his mistake was?

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Yes I can. If you are Clarfield I will explain it. But if you are Pew, then we can dialogue about it at my site. I'll tease James Bouryiotis (below) with where Adler is making 2 mistakes almost simultaneously.

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The above was not a difficult question. Are you Clarfield or Pew or someone else?

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UNSUBSCRIBED then!

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I have that "10 mistakes" book but have only dipped into. Looks worthy so I have kept it around....but, yes, the mistake about the mistakes is--??

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ADLER: Do you mean to say (readers may ask) that I am never conscious or

aware of the memories or images I am able to call to mind, and that I

cannot directly examine the concepts or conceptions my mind has been

able to form?

The answer to that question, however contrary it may be to our loose

habits of speech, is emphatically affirmative. [Chapter 1, Section 4. 10 Philosophical Mistakes.]

Adler is correct with respect to the concepts or conceptions his mind has been able to form. He is NOT conscious of them (concepts/conceptions/ideas/forms). But he is certainly conscious of any memory or image that he is able to call to mind. He essentially corrects Locke's mistake and then jumps right back into it --- failing to distinguish sensory images; whether presently apprehended or recalled via imagination; from ideas or concepts (also known as Plato's "forms").

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thanks (I doubt I would have caught it on my own....)

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So tell me his actual and major error from that section. I said it was a "teaser".

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Funnily enough, my bookmark is on the exact page you quote from (14-15), which suggests to me that that's where I "gave up" - and a few minutes study confirmed WHY I did!

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What was his major error??? According to How to Read a Book, you are supposed to look for that deeper understanding.

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Jul 29·edited Jul 29

Western civilization and the Western Canon are priceless gems.

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thanks for sharing that personal and cultural story of reading and being a student

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