The Story of Philosophy

by Will Durant

THE STORY
of
PHILOSOPHY

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THE LIVES AND OPINIONS OF
THE GREATER PHILOSOPHERS

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By WILL DURANT, Ph. D.

 

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SIMON AND SCHUSTER
NEW YORK⁠MCMXXVI

 

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER, INC.
AND E. HALDEMAN—JULIUS

 

First Printing,	May, 1926,	1500 copies
Second printing,	June, 1926,	1500 copies
Third printing,	June, 1926,	2000 copies
Fourth printing,	June, 1926,	2000 copies
Fifth printing,	June, 1926,	5000 copies
Sixth printing,	June, 1926,	5000 copies
Seventh printing,	June, 1926,	5000 copies
Eighth printing,	August, 1926,	10,000 copies
Ninth printing,	August, 1926,	10,000 copies
Tenth printing,	August, 1926,	10,000 copies
Eleventh printing,	September, 1926,	10,000 copies
Twelfth printing,	October, 1926,	10,000 copies
Thirteenth printing,	November, 1926,	25,000 copies
Fourteenth printing,	November, 1926,	10,000 copies
Total printings to date, 107,000 copies.

 

Set up, electrotyped, printed and bound by the Vail-Ballou Press, Inc,
Binghamton, N. Y.

 

TO MY WIFE

Grow strong, my comrade . . . that you may stand
Unshaken when I fall; that I may know
The shattered fragments of my song will come
At last to finer melody in you;
That I may tell my heart that you begin
Where passing I leave off, and fathom more.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

		Page
Introduction: On The Uses of Philosophy		1
CHAPTER I PLATO
I.	The Context of Plato	7
II.	Socrates	11
III.	The Preparation of Plato	19
IV.	The Ethical Problem	23
V.	The Political Problem	26
VI.	The Psychological Problem	29
VII.	The Psychological Solution	31
VIII.	The Political Solution	40
IX.	The Ethical Solution	47
X.	Criticism	49
CHAPTER II ARISTOTLE AND GREEK SCIENCE
I.	The Historical Background	58
II.	The Work of Aristotle	62
III.	The Foundation of Logic	67
IV.	The Organization of Science	72
	1.⁠Greek Science before Aristotle	72
	2.⁠Aristotle as a Naturalist	75
	3.⁠The Foundation of Biology	76
V.	Metaphysics and the Nature of God	80
VI.	Psychology and the Nature of Art	82
VII.	Ethics and the Nature of Happiness	85
VIII.	Politics	90
	1.⁠Communism and Conservatism	90
	2.⁠Marriage and Education	94
	3.⁠Democracy and Aristocracy	98
IX.	Criticism	101
X.	Later Life and Death	105
CHAPTER III
FRANCIS BACON
I.	From Aristotle to the Renaissance	107
II.	The Political Career of Francis Bacon	117
III.	The Essays	122
IV.	The Great Reconstruction	131
	1.⁠The Advancement of Learning	133
	2.⁠The New Organon	141
	3.⁠The Utopia of Science	148
V.	Criticism	152
VI.	Epilogue	158
CHAPTER IV
SPINOZA
I.	Historical and Biographical	161
	1.⁠The Odyssey of the Jews	161
	2.⁠The Education of Spinoza	164
	3.⁠Excommunication	167
	4.⁠Retirement and Death	170
II.	The Treatise on Religion and the State	178
III.	The Improvement of the Intellect	182
IV.	The Ethics	185
	1.⁠Nature and God	187
	2.⁠Matter and Mind	193
	3.⁠Intelligence and Morals	197
	4.⁠Religion and Immortality	205
V.	The Political Treatise	208
VI.	The Influence of Spinoza	215
CHAPTER V
VOLTAIRE AND THE FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT
I.	Paris: Œdipe	218
II.	London: The Letters on the English	226
III.	Cirey: The Romances	228
IV.	Potsdam and Frederick	235
V.	Les Délices: The Essay on Morals	240
VI.	Ferney: Candide	244
VII.	The Encyclopedia and the Philosophic Dictionary	251
VIII.	Écrasez l'Infame	257
IX.	Voltaire and Rousseau	266
X.	Dénouement	272
CHAPTER VI
IMMANUEL KANT AND GERMAN IDEALISM
I.	Roads to Kant	276
	1.⁠From Voltaire to Kant	277
	2.⁠From Locke to Kant	279
	3.⁠From Rousseau to Kant	282
II.	Kant Himself	285
III.	The Critique of Pure Reason	289
	1.⁠Transcendental Esthetic	291
	2.⁠Transcendental Analytic	295
	3.⁠Transcendental Dialectic	296
IV.	The Critique of Practical Reason	300
V.	On Religion and Reason	303
VI.	On Politics and Eternal Peace	307
VII.	Criticism and Estimate	311
VIII.	A Note on Hegel	317
CHAPTER VII
SCHOPENHAUER
I.	The Age	326
II.	The Man	328
III.	The World as Idea	335
IV.	The World as Will	338
	1.⁠The Will to Live	338
	2.⁠The Will to Reproduce	345
V.	The World as Evil	351
VI.	The Wisdom of Life	358
	1.⁠Philosophy	358
	2.⁠Genius	363
	3.⁠Art	365
	4.⁠Religion	367
VII.	The Wisdom of Death	369
VIII.	Criticism	373
CHAPTER VIII HERBERT SPENCER
I.	Comte and Darwin	381
II.	The Development of Spencer	385
III.	First Principles	395
	1.⁠The Unknowable	395
	2.⁠Evolution	397
IV.	Biology: The Evolution of Life	402
V.	Psychology: The Evolution of Mind	405
VI.	Sociology: The Evolution of Society	408
VII.	Ethics: The Evolution of Morals	417
VIII.	Criticism	425
	1.⁠First Principles	425
	2.⁠Biology and Psychology	428
	3.⁠Sociology and Ethics	429
IX.	Conclusion	431
CHAPTER IX
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
I.	The Lineage of Nietzsche	435
II.	Youth	437
III.	Nietzsche and Wagner	441
IV.	The Song of Zarathustra	448
V.	Hero-morality	454
VI.	The Superman	461
VII.	Decadence	465
VIII.	Aristocracy	469
IX.	Criticism	476
X.	Finale	484
CHAPTER X
CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHERS
I.	Henri Bergson	487
	1.⁠The Revolt against Materialism	487
	2.⁠Mind and Brain	490
	3.⁠Creative Evolution	497
	4.⁠Criticism	503
II.	Benedetto Croce	507
	1.⁠The Man	507
	2.⁠The Philosophy of the Spirit	510
	3.⁠What is Beauty?	514
	4.⁠Criticism	516
III.	Bertrand Russell	518
	1.⁠The Logician	518
	2.⁠The Reformer	523
	3.⁠Epilogue	526
CHAPTER XI
CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PHILOSOPHERS
Introduction		530
I.	George Santayana	532
	1.⁠Biographical	532
	2.⁠Scepticism and Animal Faith	534
	3.⁠Reason in Science	536
	4.⁠Reason in Religion	540
	5.⁠Reason in Society	544
	6.⁠Comment	550
II.	William James	553
	1.⁠Personal	553
	2.⁠Pragmatism	555
	3.⁠Pluralism	558
	4.⁠Comment	564
III.	John Dewey	565
	1.⁠Education	565
	2.⁠Instrumentalism	568
	3.⁠Science and Politics	571
Conclusion		576
Index		579
Glossary		587

 

ILLUSTRATIONS

Socrates		Frontispiece
Plato		7
Aristotle		62
Francis Bacon		118
Spinoza		164
Voltaire		218
John Locke		279
Jean Jacques Rousseau		283
Immanuel Kant		285
G. W. F. Hegel		318
Arthur Schopenhauer		329
Auguste Comte		381
Herbert Spencer		395
Friedrich Nietzsche		438
Henri Bergson		488
Benedetto Croce		507
Bertrand Russell		518
George Santayana		532
William James		554
John Dewey		566
Table of Philosophic Affiliations		110 and 111

 

TO THE READER

This book is not a complete history of philosophy. It is an attempt to humanize knowledge by centering the story of speculative thought around certain dominant personalities. Certain lesser figures have been omitted in order that those selected might have the space required to make them live. Hence the inadequate treatment of the half-legendary pre-Socratics, the Stoics and Epicureans, the Scholastics, and the epistemologists. The author believes that epistemology has kidnapped modern philosophy, and well nigh ruined it; he hopes for the time when the study of the knowledge-process will be recognized as the business of the science of psychology, and when philosophy will again be understood as the synthetic interpretation of all experience rather than the analytic description of the mode and process of experience itself. Analysis belongs to science, and gives us knowledge; philosophy must provide a synthesis for wisdom.

The author would like to record here a debt which he can never repay, to Alden Freeman, who gave him education, travel, and the inspiration of a noble and enlightened life. May this best of friends find in these pages—incidental and imperfect though they are—something not quite unworthy of his generosity and his faith.

Will Durant

New York, 1926.