In How to Read a Book Mortimer Adler says, “You must be able to to say, with reasonable certainty, ‘I understand,’ before you can say any one of the following things: ‘I agree,’ or ‘I disagree,’ or ‘I suspend judgment.’ This is his Rule #9. I’ve said before how Adler influenced me. His book How to Think About God was the first I encountered in natural theology. Years earlier I read How to Read a Book, which set me straight in philosophical pursuit: taught me how to take seriously different viewpoints and suspend criticism until I had completed my homework — that is, until I had read the damn book.
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Read the Damn Book
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In How to Read a Book Mortimer Adler says, “You must be able to to say, with reasonable certainty, ‘I understand,’ before you can say any one of the following things: ‘I agree,’ or ‘I disagree,’ or ‘I suspend judgment.’ This is his Rule #9. I’ve said before how Adler influenced me. His book How to Think About God was the first I encountered in natural theology. Years earlier I read How to Read a Book, which set me straight in philosophical pursuit: taught me how to take seriously different viewpoints and suspend criticism until I had completed my homework — that is, until I had read the damn book.