The Story of Philosophy

"...So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-cancelling vacillation and futility; we strive with the chaos about us and within; but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want to understand; 'life means for us constantly to transform into light and flame all that we are or meet with'..."The Story of Philosophy (1926) is a groundbreaking work of creative nonfiction written by Pulitzer Prize winner, Will Durant. Chronicling the ideas-and lives-of Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Croce, Russell, Santayana, James, and Dewey; Durant explores the influence of one great thinker on the next, contextualizing the evolution and development of philosophical thought in the Western world.Praised for helping to popularize philosophy to the general reader, Durant's writing shines as he effortlessly weaves together history, philosophy, and biography, cumulating in a work that both encourages and celebrates a genuine love and pursuit of wisdom. Considered by many to be the one of the best introductions to the study of philosophy, The Story of Philosophy is an insightful in-depth look at over a dozen great minds and the environments that created them.

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Auteur

Will Durant (1885-1981) was an American historian and philosopher best known for The Story of Philosophy (1926) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Story of Civilization (1935-1975). Born in North Adams, Massachusetts, Durant's early years were spent within the halls of St. Peter's Preparatory School and later, Saint Peter's College; a studious young man, he would leave the world of academia as a pupil in 1907 only to return later that year as a teacher. He would continue this profession for six years, before resigning to marry his young wife, Chaya Kaufman, and pursue his PhD at Columbia University. While Durant's first two books Philosophy and the Social Problem (1917) and A Guide to Spinoza (1924) would go without much recognition, his third book, The Story of Philosophy would open the door to critical and commercial acclaim. Originally conceived as a series of Little Blue Books-low priced paperback pocketbooks aimed at educating the working class-the work proved so popular that it was republished as a hardcover by Simon & Schuster in 1926. After its publication, Durant left teaching for good in order to focus his effort on his next big project, The Story of Civilization. Written in conjunction with his wife (now Ariel Durant), the two set out to write the biography of a civilization and spent over four decades producing eleven comprehensive volumes of Western history for the general reader. This effort was rewarded with the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968 and bore the couple continued commercial success. Durant would continue to produce nonfiction on a variety of subjects, including an autobiography with his wife, affectionally titled, Dual Autobiography, until he reached ninety-two years of age; and is fondly remembered as the man who helped to popularize philosophy for the general public.