Will Durant (1885–1981)
Author of The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers
About the Author
Will Durant was born in North Adams, Massachusetts on November 5, 1885. He received an undergraduate degree at St. Peter's College in New Jersey and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University. His first book, Philosophy and the Social Problem, was published in 1917. His other works include The show more Story of Philosophy, The Mansions of Philosophy, and the ten-volume The Story of Civilization. By the time the seventh volume was published in 1961, his wife Ariel Durant was listed as a coauthor for her diligent assistance on the project. In 1968 they received the Pulitzer Prize for Rousseau and Revolution. The husband and wife team also wrote A Dual Autobiography in 1977. He died on November 7, 1981. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Please do NOT combine this page with the various forms of "Will and Ariel Durant". Single authors should never be combined with multiples. Thank you.
Series
Works by Will Durant
The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers (1926) — Author — 4,304 copies
Interpretations of Life: A Survey of Contemporary Literature: The Lives and Opinions of Some Major Authors of Our Time (1970) 85 copies
The Story of Philosophy, Vol. 2: From Kant to William James and the American Pragmatists (2001) 33 copies
The Story of Philosophy, Vol. 1: From Plato to Voltaire and the French Enlightenment (2004) 31 copies
Our Oriental Heritage: Part 1 - The Establishment of Civilization, Sumeria, Egypt, Babylonia, and Assyria (1935) 15 copies
The foundations of civilization 10 copies
100 best books for an education 5 copies
Rousseau and Revolution: Part 4 - Johnson's England II, The Collapse of Feudal France (1967) 5 copies
The Life of Greece: Part 3 - The Decline and Fall of Greek Freedom, The Hellenistic Dispersion (1939) 4 copies
The Age of Voltaire: Part 3 - The Advancement of Learning, The Attack on Christianity (1965) 4 copies
The Story of Philosophy, Updated and Revised: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers from Ptahhotep to… (2020) 4 copies
Rousseau and Revolution: Part 1 - Prelude, France before the Deluge, The Catholic South I (1967) 3 copies
The Story of Civilization, 1-7 3 copies
The Story of Civilization, Vol II 2 copies
The Story of Civilization, 1-9 2 copies
The Pleasures of Philosophy, Vol. 1 2 copies
A Guide to Spinoza 2 copies
The Reformation: Part 3 - The Strangers in the Gate, Behind the Scenes, The Counter-Reformation (1957) 2 copies
The Age of Reason Begins: Part 3 - The Faiths Fight for Power II, The Tentatives of Reason (1961) 2 copies
Das Leben Griechenlands 1 copy
Storia della civiltà 1 copy
World History (multi-volume) 1 copy
قصة الحضارة (أوروبا الوسطى) 1 copy
Η περιπέτεια της φιλοσοφίας 1 copy
A Program for America 1 copy
قصة الحضارة: الشرق الأدنى 1 copy
islam medeniyeti 1 copy
قصة الحضارة: عصر فولتير #1 1 copy
Filosofi - Le opere 7-11-1 1 copy
Filosofi 7-11-1 1 copy
قصة الحضارة: عصر الإيمان #1 1 copy
Tarihten Alınacak Dersler 1 copy
قصة الحضارة - ملخص 1 copy
قصة الحضارة: روسو والثورة #1 1 copy
قصة الحضارة: حياة اليونان #1 1 copy
Associated Works
An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine (2000) — Contributor — 134 copies
High Moment: Stories of Supreme Crises in the Lives of Great Men — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Durant, Will
- Legal name
- Durant, William James
- Other names
- ول ديورانت
ויל דוראנט - Birthdate
- 1885-11-05
- Date of death
- 1981-11-07
- Burial location
- Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- North Adams, Massachusetts, USA
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Places of residence
- North Adams, Massachusetts, USA (birth)
- Education
- Saint Peter's College (BA|1907)
Columbia University (Ph.D|1917) - Occupations
- historian
writer
author
librarian - Relationships
- Durant, Ariel (wife)
- Organizations
- Ferrer Modern School
Seton Hall University
Labor Temple School - Awards and honors
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977)
Pulitzer Prize (literature|1967)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1959)
Golden Plate Award (1976) - Disambiguation notice
- Please do NOT combine this page with the various forms of "Will and Ariel Durant". Single authors should never be combined with multiples. Thank you.
Members
Discussions
The Story of Civilization by the Durants: Yea or Nay? in Non-Fiction Readers (December 2021)
Will Durant in Philosophy and Theory (July 2010)
Reviews
Lists
My List (1)
Big History (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 193
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 26,845
- Popularity
- #770
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 202
- ISBNs
- 369
- Languages
- 13
- Favorited
- 33
Human behavior is affected by many factors. The values of the factors change, but the methods in history repeat, just with different details. Not much has changed in the character of people, as the desires are the same but expressed differently. Same strategies used but with different associations. Humans are evolutionary trained to be competitive for resources, for even cooperation is a tool and form of competition. Climate, geography, and nature can limit human capacity, but the limits were overcome by human ingenuity. Knowledge can be used to improve society, or decimate it. Making those who resist change as important as those who inspire change. Religion and government have been used to enable cooperation between people. Religion provides a moral code that is above even the most powerful people. Government enforces laws that provide freedom by restricting absolute freedom’s destructive capacity. Civilization is dependent on education, for civilization is not inherited.
What Are Some More Lessons Of History?
All historians are partial, for even those who think they are not, choose material and subjects based on their partiality. What normally makes history are the exceptional events, rather than most of history which is more mundane.
Moral laxity is not a sign of moral decay, but of a transitioning moral code. Religions rise and fall, only to be resurrected. Moral life used to be aided by religion, but contemporary society does not use religion.
War is the norm, and it part of the competitive process. The individual is restrained by morals and laws, but the state does not have such restraints.
Inequality is cyclical. An inevitable concentration of wealth, which can become intolerable that inspires the redistribution of wealth using various means. Dictators rise when wealth distribution is inappropriate. It was because power has been abused that lead to revolution that gave rise to democracy, which has taken its turn in misgovernance.
Caveats?
The focus is on broad categories, and describing their trends over the course of history. There is a lack of information on any specific society or era. This book prompts the reader to search for that information, and provides a way to interpret the events.
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