Mortimer J. Adler's much quoted address in which he castigated American professors has been Widely misunderstood. When he declared that their errors were more dangerous than the threat from Hitler, he did not intend to discount them. On the contrary, he was paying a most impressive compliment to the importance and effect of their writings and other activities. Adler is professor of the philosophy of law in the University of Chicago, and his yardstick must be applied to himself. It would be inappropriate to pass over his How to Think About War and Peace in silence or to regard it as an unimportant and uninfluential work. This new book, praised as a product of hard thinking, will be read only by few, even though it will be bought by many in response to the intense propaganda of the publisher.
1 (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1944). Cf. also lecture, Adler's “War and the Rule of Law” in War and the Law, edited by Puttkammer, Ernst W.. (University of Chicago Press (1944)Google Scholar.
2 About this discussion cf. The Review of Politics, vol. I, (1939), p. 371 ffGoogle Scholar.
3 He says in his lecture (loc. cit. p. 198) “… peace will not be made at the end of this war.…. That means another war at a not too distant future.”
4 Loc. cit. p. 196. He has also said, “it is true to say that military conquest does reduce the extent of anarchy in the world.”