William & Ariel Durant

The Story of Philosophy

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The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers 
by Will Durant  (Author)
​A brilliant and concise account of the lives and ideas of the great philosophers, from Plato to Dewey.
Few write for the non-specialist as well as Will Durant, and this book is a splendid example of his eminently readable scholarship. Durant’s insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is a key book for anyone who wishes to survey the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.
Philosophers profiled:
  • Plato (with a section on Socrates),
  • Aristotle,
  • Francis Bacon,
  • Baruch Spinoza (with a section on Descartes),
  • Voltaire (with a section on Rousseau),
  • Immanuel Kant (with a section on Hegel),
  • Arthur Schopenhauer,
  • Herbert Spencer, 
  • Friedrich Nietzsche.​

Other Works

The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant

​In this episode, Erik Rostad discusses book 49 of 52 from his 2019 Reading List – The Lessons of History  by Will & Ariel Durant.

The Story of Civilization

​Story of Civilization
by Will Durant  (Author), Ariel Durant (Author)
​The Complete Story of Civilization by Will Durant represents the most comprehensive attempt in our times to embrace the vast panorama of man’s history and culture. This eleven-volume set includes: Volume One - Our Oriental Heritage (1935)
  • Volume Two - The Life of Greece (1939)
  • Volume Three - Caesar and Christ (1944)
  • Volume Four - The Age of Faith (1950)
  • Volume Five - The Renaissance (1953)
  • Volume Six - The Reformation (1957)
  • Volume Seven - The Age of Reason Begins (1961)
  • Volume Eight - The Age of Louis XIV (1963)
  • Volume Nine - The Age of Voltaire (1965)
  • Volume Ten - Rousseau and Revolution (1967)
  • Volume Eleven - The Age of Napoleon (1975)
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