The Story of Philosophy

The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers

By: Will Durant

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The product of 11 years of research, The Story of Philosophy is an endlessly inspiring and instructive chronicle of the world’s greatest thinkers, from Socrates to Santayana. Written with exacting and scrupulous scholarship, it was designed both to command the respect of educators and to capture the interest of the layman.

Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.

Will Durant (1885-1981) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He spent over 50 years writing his critically acclaimed 11-volume series The Story of Civilization. A champion of human-rights issues such as social reform and the brotherhood of man long before they were popular, he continues to educate and entertain readers and listeners worldwide through his writings.

©1926 Will Durant (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A delight.” ( New York Times)

“Easily the most engaging writer of Western intellectual history in the English language, Will Durant breathes life into philosophers and their ideas. He is colorful, witty, and above all, informative.” (Amazon.com review)

Will Durant Revisited

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to individuals who wanted a good overview of the history of philosophy.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

I initially read this book in a Introduction to Philosophy course some 35 year ago and just wanted a refresher on what was contained in this book. Needless to say, I forgot a lot, and maybe some sections of the book I never read. It was an enjoyable visit with a great American Professor of philosophy.

If you could give The Story of Philosophy a new subtitle, what would it be?

Ideas and thoughts never change

Great book

This was my first book on the subject. I loved the writing style and the oration. Highly recommend to everyone.

Great crash course

maybe a bit more than a crash course. very comprehensive and fairly thorough. Im but a novice in philosophy, but i enjoyed it.

Excellent Read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, if interested in the subject of philosophy. Helped me to explore different thoughts in a concise way, and encouraged me to learn more.

Any additional comments?

Very informative.

A valuable walk through the evolution of thought

Critical history of how we've created the societies we live in today presented in a clear and thought provoking way.

Inspired

It’s as near perfect as I can see. The prose and presentation from Durant laid foundation for my understanding and more importantly, my desire to learn more.

The Story of Philosophy

If you want know what is philosophy start your journey with this book. I truly recommended that. It opens your eyes. I think I drink so much wisdom and I get more aware of my life, so if you are younger than me, you should study this book. I only hope that I were read this when I were younger.

Better than my college classes

This was much better than the introductory class I had in college. I was a little hesitant because the publication date was so old but that perspective made it feel even more valuable, because so much of what I read today is just repetition of the same point of view.

Insightful But Hard To Listen To

Overall, this is a decent survey of 3,000 years of philosophical thought. Philosophy is difficult to digest in audio format. It is complicated enough to grapple with Kant's metaphysics in written form. As an audiobook, this survey became a confusing jumble of philosophers and philosophical views that was difficult to keep straight.

The audiobook was particularly confusing because the narrator didn't make a clear distinction between the author's commentary and quotations from the original works of the philosophers.

I would not recommend this audiobook. It would be better in written form.

It's all been pondered before

I’ve always enjoyed philosophical ideas and discussions, but never knew all that much about the history of philosophy. This book turned out to be a fine corrective, and was a surprisingly accessible, engaging read as well.

Durant covers what he considers the major figures of Western philosophy, starting from the ancient Greeks and working his way up his own time, the 1920s. Some get more attention than others, but you’ll find most of the “household names” here, and Durant follows a formula that works pretty well. He sets up each philosopher’s life and historical context, provides a collage of the philosopher’s ideas, then adds some criticism of his own. Between his dry wit and his lively exploration of biographical details, the examination feels more like a good documentary than a lecture. Grover Gardner’s light, warm audiobook narration helped, too.

Beneath each figure and his ideas, Durant traces the evolution of thought, and shows the way philosophy laid the groundwork for science, ethics, systems of political ideas, and various ways of thinking about the nature of existence. In reading about Plato’s Republic, we see that the problems of government that we wrestle over today are nothing new at all -- indeed, his notion of “philosopher statesmen” expresses a set of ideals all too compromised in our current democratic system. In Spinoza’s determinist rationalism and Voltaire’s sharp, savage wit, we see the currents of reason and enlightenment pushing against previous centuries of superstition and dogma. In Kant and Schopenhauer we see the pendulum swinging the other way again, towards an understanding that rationality does not exist apart from human experience and its limitations, and that any framework of thought or ethics must grapple with this. This reaches full extension in the strident views of Nietchze, who views existence as a Darwinian struggle for mastery. Considering all the things Durant (or anyone else living in 1926) didn’t yet know about how far Nietzsche's philosophy would be twisted ten years hence, his calm analysis of “a few issues” in it is chilling.

Later chapters provide a short overview of early 20th century thinkers, such as Bertrand Russell, George Santayana, and John Dewey, who attempt to steer philosophy away from its 19th century idealism, and back into a more scientifically-grounded, analytical realm.

The Story of Philosophy definitely isn’t a comprehensive overview of Western philosophy (as others have noted, there could be more on Locke, Hobbes, Descartes, and Hume), but it’s a great introduction, written on a higher level than a “For Dummies” guide, but hardly dull or incomprehensible. It's a little humbling to recognize that, for virtually every political, ethical, moral, or religious debate I can imagine getting sucked into, the underlying questions have all long ago been well-pondered by towering intellects.

PS. For an amusing supplement, be sure to search youtube for "Three Minute Philosophy"