The Story of Philosophy
"The Story of Philosophy" is a compilation of essays on key philosophers written by Will Durant, originally published in 1926. The work began as a series of brief booklets on notable figures such as Plato, Aristotle, and Voltaire, commissioned by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. This collective effort aimed to provide accessible insights into philosophical thought for a general audience, avoiding dense academic language. The book quickly gained popularity, staying on bestseller lists for over a year, and was later reissued in a second edition in 1933, where Durant defended its approach against criticism.
Durant’s writing is characterized by a blend of scholarly insight and a conversational style, making complex ideas relatable to readers without formal education in philosophy. Although he acknowledged the exclusion of certain philosophical traditions, such as Indian and Chinese thought, Durant emphasized the importance of engaging with primary texts and invited readers to explore these works further. Overall, "The Story of Philosophy" is seen as a significant contribution to popularizing philosophical ideas during a challenging economic period, continuing to resonate with readers interested in the evolution of thought and wisdom.
On this Page
The Story of Philosophy
Identification Book presenting the lives and ideas of eminent thinkers
Author Will Durant
Date First edition published in 1926; second edition published in 1933
In the preface to the 1933 edition of The Story of Philosophy, Will Durant states he has defied jealous specialists and tried to teach common readers philosophy, humanizing for them an essential part of the vastness of knowledge.
The Story of Philosophy began as a series of Little Blue Books, published by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, who had been so impressed with a 1922 lecture by Durant that he persuaded Durant to write a booklet on Plato. By 1925, Durant had written ten more booklets on philosophy—covering Aristotle; Francis Bacon; Baruch Spinoza; Voltaire; Immanuel Kant; Arthur Schopenhauer; Herbert Spencer; Friedrich Nietzsche; Henri Bergson, Benedetto Croce, and Bertrand Russell; and George Santayana, William James, and John Dewey.
Altogether, the eleven booklets formed almost a full-length book, and Haldeman-Julius and Durant decided to publish the compilation with Simon and Schuster. With extra pages Durant supplied mainly to span gaps between featured philosophers, The Story of Philosophy was published in May, 1926, and stayed on best-seller lists for more than a year, helped by vigorous advertising and satisfied reviewers.
By 1933, despite the Great Depression, Simon and Schuster decided to publish a second edition, with a preface in which Durant defended his book against hostile criticism. He thanked American readers and declined to apologize for either the book’s popularity among persons without college degrees or his refusal to fill it with epistemology. Furthermore, he noted that, far from intending his book to substitute for hard-core philosophy, he had quoted copiously from the great philosophers and referred his readers to the primary texts. He acknowledged his omission of Indian and Chinese philosophers but commented that critics had overlooked that gap in the story.
Impact
Like the 1926 version, the 1933 edition of The Story of Philosophy was a work that transcended its era and appealed through a learned but humane style to the ordinary reader’s love of wisdom—a love that thrived amid economic hardship, as it had amid prosperity. Ever a teacher, Durant continued to write for the literate masses and sought to tell a broader story than that of philosophy alone. Beginning with Our Oriental Heritage (1935) and continuing through The Age of Napoleon (1975), he and his wife, Ariel, wrote the eleven-volume synthesis The Story of Civilization (1935-1975).
Bibliography
Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. A Dual Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977.
Perry, John, Michael Bratman, and John Martin Fischer, eds. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.