Story of Philosophy
By Will Durant
4.5/5
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About this ebook
Will Durant chronicles the ideas of the great thinkers, the economic and intellectual environments which influenced them, and the personal traits and adventures out of which each philosophy grew. Durant’s insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.
Will Durant
Will Durant (1885–1981) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1968) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977). He spent more than fifty years writing his critically acclaimed eleven-volume series, The Story of Civilization (the later volumes written in conjunction with his wife, Ariel). A champion of human rights issues, such as the brotherhood of man and social reform, long before such issues were popular, Durant’s writing still educates and entertains readers around the world.
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Reviews for Story of Philosophy
40 ratings17 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A mammoth book that covers much of the landscape of philosophy - in the Western world at least - from the Ancient Greeks up to the Americans Dewey and James. There's a huge amount here, but the book is well-written and never lags - while I can't say I learned a great deal from this brief survey of philosophic luminaries (the fault is mine, btw), I have become far more interested in the field, and feel ready to approach some of the original texts.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philosophy, a word that so often spring out in conversations. But what does it mean? Where does it come from? Who were the people who made it so important for us? What were their main ideas?
If you like this subject and you, like me, feel utterly lost amidst the vast world (or should I say worlds?) of this field of knowledge, and you're serious into grasping its profound insights and scope, this is the book where you should start.
One of its striking features is the way that Will Durant, the author of this story, guides you through the main characters that made philosophy what it is today, with a passion and insight that are only available to those that truly love this subject.
The book is slightest dated towards the more recent authors (namely the 1st half 20th century philosophers), but this is just a small detail that doesn't make the book less valuable – it's still a priceless resource to provide the reader with a good view of the history of philosophy as a whole.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This work is amazing, a gem. It was a long read for me, not because it was lengthy, but because I spent more time contemplating after every few pages, while I was reading the book.
The expressions and choice of words makes this really poetry. If the quality of communication is what makes something a work of art, then this book qualifies as enduring art. Furthermore, there is this pervading earnestness that only comes from one who is invested in what he writes about; it is no mere intellectual juggernaut tour de force.
The lives and thinking of Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer and Nietzsche form the contents with two chapters devoted to European and American philosophers. Kant's supreme principal of morality suggests our happiness be put on the back burner and that we do our duty remains the most interesting to me. Kant argues that a person is good or bad depending on the motivation of their actions and not on the goodness of the consequences of those actions. It is fascinating stuff and more tangible than many other theories or examinations.
Durant writes with clarity and in rich detail so the contents of this book is to be savoured, discussed and debated.
This is very well articulated synthesis of the evolution of thought.
I would heartily recommend this book!1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellent book. A must read for everyone who is interested to know the evolution of thoughts over last two thousands years. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Really had to work to finish this one. I guess having been a failed student of philosophy (that is, I gave it up rather early on), I can't criticize this with too much precision, but this piece of work really felt like it was misnamed. If anything, it should have been "here are some philosophers, some you should know about and others you can quickly forget." Not really, but.... The gaps felt like bigger pieces of the story than the story itself, in many cases. Of course, I know this was first published in 1926, so the perspective on the overall picture was a fair bit different. Nonetheless, I can't say that I'd recommend this to anyone.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I would have given it a five, had it included eastern philosophies too.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Artie Schopenhauer once said, "Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can't expect an angel to look out." With Durant's book, I'm having trouble figuring out if I'm an angel, or, well...something else.I found its 1920s prose arcane, dated and well, sometimes boring. Essays on the "easier" philosophers (Voltaire, Russell) were entertaining. The tough guys (eg. Spinoza) made my eyes glaze over.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I always feel that it's cheating to read a book about an author or thinker rather than going straight to the source. Cliffnotes are an abomination; I'm even suspicious of biographies and encyclopedia entries. This is why I had to buy a second bookshelf to house all those ridiculously large books by dead philosophers. Source-snobbery aside, I do think Will Durant is a genius at distilling impossible ideas to their essence and explaining them with a clarity that does not in any way diminish or dumb them down. Sure, his book is frustratingly broad, and since it was written in the 1920s it lacks a handful of vital philosophers like Wittgenstein and Heidegger, but it's the one I'd recommend in a heartbeat to anyone wanting to know more about philosophy but unsure where to begin, or to someone like myself who has read a fair bit of the originals but only half understands.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book follows the threads of speculative thought in the Western world through certain dominant personalities. It excludes epistemology, which it relegates to psychology, and understands philosophy to be a synthetic interpretation of all experience. Science gives us empirical knowledge. It is the role of philosophy to synthesize that knowledge into wisdom.Is it a difficult read? Yes, at times. This book is not for everyone. But Will Durant is a good guide. No one could make Spinoza or Kant easy, but he makes them accessible, if the reader will apply some effort. Have a notebook handy because you will encounter lots of keepers, bits of priceless wisdom you will want to save.Durant draws critical conclusions about these various philosophers, their strengths and weaknesses, and shows how they relate to one another. A rewarding read, if chewed well and thoroughly digested.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect book if you are new to philosophy. It was for me. I really liked how he mixed the philosophers main ideas with the history of when they presented them. This made it more interesting and helped put into perspective how the times shaped their works. While I enjoyed this book I will need a break before I listen to the second volume.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent overview of the significant philosophers and their philosophies throughout history.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A readable but dated analysis of the history of philosophy that focuses on a few of the people who are notable in that field-- Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, Spencer, Nietzsche, and a handful of 19th and early 20th century European and American philosophers. It is a good introduction and presents a decent basic analysis, but is full of early twentieth century Western triumphalism and the idolization of post-Enlightenment rationalism. However, if you are looking to just get a basic feel for the types of things regarding which philosophers dispute, this is a good place to start.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mr. Durant is a thoroughly inadequate philosopher and oft’ incompetent interpreter of philosophic text, but I must applaud him for his charming story telling and noble (though wiggish) attempt to bring philosophy down to the everyday man. Any pedant frustrated by inaccuracy should avoid this book. For those who just want a charming gloss on the history of philosophy it is far more accessible to newcomers than Bertrand Russell’s history.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Sure this book has a bunch of good background and serves a as nice background to philosophy...but it's ideological bias is strong and unacknowledged.The writer is an academic...and, of course, there is nothing wrong with this. But he seems wholly unaware of how his view totally shapes his reading and critic of the great minds.For example, Plato suggests a society run by the elite who have been schooled in the correct management of a state. This, of course, is a very logical proposition. Durant finds many things to criticize with Plato's proposed society, but seems blissfully ignorant of that the power in Plato's society would reside within university walls since the one who shapes the training of our leaders holds as much power as the leaders themselves...but in fairness, I wouldn't expect someone who comes from the institution to critize a system that would give more power to people like himself.This may seem like a minor critic, and I guess it is, but Durant's book is full of such elitist and academic assumptions. So when combined with page after page of such assumptions and bias, it gets harder and harder to glean fact from his elitist opinions.After reading this book I get the sense that this author hasn't been shaped by the day-to-day performance of real work in the real world, but rather lives in his ivory tower where eloquent speech and high ideals take precedence over "mundane" things like the raising of a family and the struggle of the working class.Finally, Durant seems to revel in anti-Christian assumptions. He fails to give real criticism of some of the horrendous morals promoted by early philosophers (for example, a passing nod to the sanctity of life and the abhorrence of infanticide would have been nice). And his jumping from Aristotle to Francis Bacon seems to be his way of sticking his nose up to great Christian philosophers like Augustine, who, although a theologian, wrote great and influential treatises on subjects like time, truth, and free will. The Greek philosophers' writings were about God and the ultimate reality as well...so why are they included while great Christian thinkers are not? Readers beware.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is amazingly cheap priced for the wisdom is bestows. I remember- Me and C bought a copy each and started the reading sessions alternating with discussions during long walks, drives and evening teas during our internship days. I’m yet to find a better primer for philosophy than this book written by the delicately humorous Durant and whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who wishes to acquaint themselves with the schools in philosophy.Personally I cherish my copy with all the wild and illegible scribbles and highlighting.It is a symbol of growth and a visage of what a concerted and collective human exploration means.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A little dry at places but not too bad. I read as far as the chapter on Francis Bacon, then for some reason never got around to finishing it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was my first general guide to philosophy. It packs a lot in. This is the book that let me understand Kant and helped me realize how much I like Spinoza.