"The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind"
About this Quote
Serious thinking carries a burden of judgment. Mortimer Adler insists that the life of the mind is not an endless rehearsal of doubts but a discipline that culminates in reasoned assent. The refusal to decide, when decision is due, masquerades as sophistication but often hides indecision or fear. Philosophy begins with wonder and questioning, yet it should not end in permanent suspension. After examining evidence, testing arguments, and clarifying terms, a thinker owes the world and himself a conclusion, even if it is provisional.
Adler is not praising stubbornness. Making up one’s mind differs from dogmatism because it remains answerable to reasons and open to revision. The point is courage, not rigidity: the courage to say, Here is what the best reasons now support, and to live by that until better reasons appear. Without that step, inquiry curdles into paralysis, and learning never ripens into wisdom.
His stance reflects a lifetime spent defending philosophy as a public, practical enterprise. As an architect of the Great Books movement and editor of the Syntopicon, Adler believed that the enduring questions have real answers that matter for conduct and citizenship. He wrote against relativism and narrow positivism in a mid-20th-century academy tempted by hedging and fragmentation. For him, the intellectual virtues include clarity, fairness to opposing views, and the moral resolve to judge where judgment is possible.
There is also a civic claim here. Societies depend on citizens capable of forming sound judgments about the good, the just, and the true. Endless equivocation is not neutrality; it can be evasion dressed as tolerance. To avoid the duty of making up one’s mind is to forfeit the chance to act wisely. Philosophy honors its deepest aim not by multiplying footnotes but by guiding life. Deliberate, conclude, and, when warranted, change your mind. The duty is to have one.
Adler is not praising stubbornness. Making up one’s mind differs from dogmatism because it remains answerable to reasons and open to revision. The point is courage, not rigidity: the courage to say, Here is what the best reasons now support, and to live by that until better reasons appear. Without that step, inquiry curdles into paralysis, and learning never ripens into wisdom.
His stance reflects a lifetime spent defending philosophy as a public, practical enterprise. As an architect of the Great Books movement and editor of the Syntopicon, Adler believed that the enduring questions have real answers that matter for conduct and citizenship. He wrote against relativism and narrow positivism in a mid-20th-century academy tempted by hedging and fragmentation. For him, the intellectual virtues include clarity, fairness to opposing views, and the moral resolve to judge where judgment is possible.
There is also a civic claim here. Societies depend on citizens capable of forming sound judgments about the good, the just, and the true. Endless equivocation is not neutrality; it can be evasion dressed as tolerance. To avoid the duty of making up one’s mind is to forfeit the chance to act wisely. Philosophy honors its deepest aim not by multiplying footnotes but by guiding life. Deliberate, conclude, and, when warranted, change your mind. The duty is to have one.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
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