We Hold These Truths
Understanding the Ideas and Ideals of the Constitution
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Narrated by:
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Jeff Riggenbach
About this listen
Mortimer Adler devoted a lifetime to studying the great ideas of Western culture and explaining even the most difficult concepts to the average citizen, earning Time magazine’s praise as a "philosopher for everyman". In We Hold These Truths, Dr. Adler caps his life’s work by illuminating the ideas and ideals that have made the United States of America a truly unique nation in the annals of history.
The ideas Adler examines include those at the core of the Declaration of Independence: human equality, inalienable human rights, civil rights, the pursuit of happiness, and both the consent and dissent of the governed. These are the ideas that form the basis for justice, domestic tranquility, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty - the ideals that are found in the preamble to the Constitution and which bind us together as a nation and a people.
Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001), American philosopher, educator, and popular author, was chairman of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s board of editors, the founder and director of the Institute for Philosophical Research, and an honorary trustee and founder of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies.
©1987 Mortimer J. Alder (P)1996 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
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By: Bill Hammack
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- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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“Almost all of the philosophical truths that I have come to know and understand I have learned from Aristotle,” says Mortimer J. Adler. This easy-to-listen-to exposition of Aristotle’s thoughts about nature, human actions, and the conduct of life confirms convictions that most of us hold, though we may not be fully aware of them. This is because Aristotle’s philosophical insights are grounded in the common experience we all possess and because they illuminate the common sense we all rely on.
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- By britishtar on 02-14-15
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Philosophical Method
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Timothy Williamson tackles some of the key questions surrounding philosophy in new and provocative ways, showing how philosophy begins in common sense curiosity, and develops through our capacity to dispute rationally with each other. Discussing philosophy's ability to clarify our thoughts, he explains why such clarification depends on the development of philosophical theories, and how those theories can be tested by imaginative thought experiments, and compared against each other by standards similar to those used in the natural and social sciences.
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What listeners say about We Hold These Truths
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-31-21
Demystifying
A very good reference book that helps demystify the key meaning in both the Constitution's language and it's application within worldly contexts. Likewise, WHTT Superbly explores some of our high court's most controversial decisions with an array of insight and poise.
Recommended to all with an interest in gaining critical insight into the Constitution and it's uses within judicial contexts.
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- Michael
- 05-16-22
Sterile Interpretation
I was very surprised to find such a sterile reading of the founding documents of our country.
Neither heart nor passion are to be found in Adler's exposition. The man who knows so well the great books shows little appreciation for nor historical context of these obvious thunderbolts of democracy.
Instead he offers logical and philosophical criticisms and corrections.
I cannot help but muse that the author was battling a bad case of digestive distress that doomed this dispepsic discourse.
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