Will Durant
William Durant | |
---|---|
Born | William James Durant November 5, 1885 North Adams, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died | November 7, 1981 Los Angeles, California | (aged 96)
Occupation |
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Education | PhD , 1917) |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Subject | History, philosophy, religion |
Spouse |
William James Durant (/dəˈrænt/; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American historian and philosopher, best known for his 11-volume work, The Story of Civilization, which contains and details the history of Eastern and Western civilizations. It was written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy (1926), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy".[1]
Durant conceived of philosophy as total
Early life
William James Durant was born in
After graduating from
In 1905, he began experimenting with
Teaching career
From 1907 to 1911, Durant taught Latin and French at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.[5]
After leaving Seton Hall, Durant was a teacher at
In 1913, he resigned his post as teacher and married the 15-year-old Ariel Kaufman; they had one daughter, Ethel, and a "foster" son, Louis, whose mother was Flora—Ariel's sister.[5] To support themselves, he began lecturing in a Presbyterian church for $5 and $10; the material for the lectures became the starting point for The Story of Civilization.
By 1914, he began to reject "intimations of human evil," notes Rubin, and to "retreat from
Instead of tying
human progress to the rise of the proletariat, he made it the inevitable outcome of the laughter of young children or the endurance of his parents' marriage. As Ariel later summarized it, he had concocted, by his mid-30s, "that sentimental, idealizing blend of love, philosophy, Christianity, and socialism which dominated his spiritual chemistry" the rest of his life. The attributes ultimately propelled him away from radicalism as a substitute faith and from teaching young anarchists as an alternative vocation. Instead, late in 1913 he embarked on a different pursuit: the dissemination of culture.[7]
Durant was director and lecturer at the Labor Temple School in New York City from 1914 to 1927 while pursuing a PhD at Columbia University that he completed in 1917, the year he also served as an instructor in philosophy.[5]
Writing career
In 1908, Durant worked as a reporter for
In 1917, while working on a doctorate in philosophy at Columbia University, he wrote his first book, Philosophy and the Social Problem. He discussed the idea that philosophy had not grown because it had refused to confront the actual problems of society. He received his doctorate from Columbia that same year.[9] He was also an instructor at the university.
The Story of Philosophy
The Story of Civilization
Throughout their writing of The Story of Civilization, the Durants strove to create what they called "integral history." They opposed the "specialization" of history, an anticipatory rejection of what some have called the "cult of the expert." Their goal was to write a "biography" of a civilization, in this case, the history of the West. Not only would it describe the usual history of the Western world's wars, the history of politics and biographies of people of greatness and villainy, but also the history of the Western world's culture, art, philosophy, religion, and the rise of mass communication. Much of The Story considers the living conditions of everyday people throughout the 2500-year period that their "story" of the West covers. These volumes also bring an unabashedly moral framework to their accounts, constantly stressing the "dominance of the strong over the weak, the dominance of the clever over the simple." The Story of Civilization is the most successful historiographical series in history. In the 1990s, an unabridged audiobook production of all 11 volumes was produced by Books On Tape and it was read by Alexander Adams (Grover Gardner).
For Rousseau and Revolution (1967), the 10th volume of The Story of Civilization, the Durants were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for literature. In 1977, it was followed by one of the two highest awards which was ever granted to civilians by the United States government, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by Gerald Ford. The Durants received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1976.[11]
The first volume of The Story of Civilization series, titled Our Oriental Heritage (1935), is divided into an introduction and three books. The introduction takes the reader through the different aspects of civilization (economical, political, moral and mental). Book One is dedicated to the civilizations of the Near East (Sumeria, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Judea and Persia). Book two is titled "India and Her Neighbors." Book three moves deeper into the east, where the Chinese Civilization flourishes and Japan starts to find its place on the world's political map.
Other works
On April 8, 1944, Durant was approached by two leaders of the Jewish and Christian faiths, Meyer David and Christian Richard, about starting "a movement, to raise moral standards." He suggested instead that they start a movement against racial intolerance and outlined his ideas for a "
Throughout his career, Durant made several speeches, including "Persia in the History of Civilization", which was presented as an address before the
Rousseau and Revolution was followed by a slender volume of observations which was titled The Lessons of History, which was both a synopsis of the series as well as an analysis of human history.
Though Ariel and Will had intended to carry the work on The Story of Civilization into the 20th century, at their now very advanced age, they expected the 10th volume to be their last. However, they went on to publish a final volume, their 11th, The Age of Napoleon in 1975. They also left notes for a 12th volume behind, The Age of Darwin, as well as an outline of a 13th volume, The Age of Einstein, which would have taken The Story of Civilization to 1945.
Three posthumous works by Durant have been published in recent years, The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time (2002), Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age (2001) and Fallen Leaves (2014).
Final years
The Durants shared an intense love for one another as they explained in their Dual Autobiography. After Will entered the hospital, Ariel stopped eating, and she died on October 25, 1981. Though their daughter, Ethel, and their grandchildren strove to conceal the news of Ariel's death from the ailing Will, he found out that she had died while he was watching the evening news, and he died two weeks later, two days after his 96th birthday, on November 7, 1981. Will was buried beside Ariel in the
Writing about Russia
In 1933, he published Tragedy of Russia: Impressions from a Brief Visit and soon afterward, he published The Lesson of Russia. A few years after the books were published, the social commentator Will Rogers read them and he described a symposium which he had attended which included Durant as one of the contributors to it. He later wrote of Durant, "He is just about our best writer on Russia. He is the most fearless writer that has been there. He tells you just what it's like. He makes a mighty fine talk. One of the most interesting lecturers we have, and a fine fellow."[1]
Writing about India
In 1930, Durant visited British India to collect information for The Story of Civilization. While in India, Durant was shocked by the poverty and instances of starvation he witnessed, to the point where he took a period of time off from his intended goal to write a short book titled The Case for India about the "conscious and deliberate bleeding of India" by Britain.[15] In The Case for India, Durant wrote that "The British conquest of India was the invasion and destruction of a high civilization by a trading company utterly without scruple or principle, careless of art and greedy of gain, over-running with fire and sword a country temporarily disordered and helpless, bribing and murdering, annexing and stealing, and beginning their career of illegal and 'legal' plunder which has now gone on ruthlessly for one hundred and seventy-three years."[16]
Personal views
On his personal religious beliefs, Durant wrote that “I am prepared to have you put me down as an
Reception
Selected bibliography
Will Durant's full bibliography can be found online.[19]
- 1917. Philosophy and the Social Problem. New York: Macmillan.
- 1926. The Story of Philosophy. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1927. Transition. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1929. The Mansions of Philosophy. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1930. The Case for India. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1931. A Program for America. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1931. Adventures in Genius. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1932. On the Meaning of Life. New York: Ray Long and Richard R. Smith.
- 1933. The Tragedy of Russia: Impressions From a Brief Visit. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1936. The Foundations of Civilisation. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1953. The Pleasures of Philosophy. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1968. (with Ariel Durant) The Lessons of History. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1970. (with Ariel Durant) Interpretations of Life. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1977. (with Ariel Durant) A Dual Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 2001. Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 2002. The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 2003. An Invitation to Philosophy: Essays and Talks on the Love of Wisdom. Promethean Press.
- 2008. Adventures in Philosophy. Promethean Press.
- 2014. Fallen Leaves. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Little Blue Books contributions
- 1922. A Guide to Plato. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1922. The Story of Aristotle's Philosophy. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1923. A Guide to Francis Bacon. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1924: A Guide to Schopenhauer. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1924. A Guide to Spinoza. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1924. The Philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1924. The Story of Friedrich Nietzsche's Philosophy. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1924. Voltaire and the French Enlightenment. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1925. Anatole France: The Man and His Work. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1925. Contemporary American Philosophers: Santayana, James and Dewey. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1925. Contemporary European Philosophers: Bergson, Croce and Bertrand Russell. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1925. The Philosophy of Herbert Spencer. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
- 1928. (with Clarence Darrow) Are We Machines? Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company.
The Story of Civilization
- 1935. Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1939. The Life of Greece. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1944. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1950. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1953. The Renaissance. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1957. The Reformation. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1961. (with Ariel Durant) The Age of Reason Begins. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1963. (with Ariel Durant) The Age of Louis XIV. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1965. (with Ariel Durant) The Age of Voltaire. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1967. (with Ariel Durant) Rousseau and Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- 1975. (with Ariel Durant) The Age of Napoleon. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Notes
References
- ^ a b Rogers, Will (1966). Gragert, Steven K. (ed.). The Papers of Will Rogers. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 393.[dubious ] The details of this book appear to be wrong – see talk page
- ^ Durant, Will. "What is Philosophy?". Archived from the original on December 28, 2010.
- ^ Durant, Will (1935). Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster. p. vii.
- ^ "Will Durant". Freedom From Religion Foundation. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ OCLC 750569323– via Google Books.
- ^ "The will to capture history". Hudson Reporter. November 4, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Rubin, Joan Shelley. The Making of Middlebrow Culture, University of North Carolina Press (1992).
- ^ Durant, Will (1935). Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster. p. 1051.
- ^ Norton, Dan (Spring 2011), "A Symphony of History: Will Durant's The Story of Civilization", The Objective Standard, 6 (1), 3rd paragraph, retrieved May 29, 2012.
- ^ WUACC, archived from the original on March 10, 2007.
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ a b Interdependence, Will Durant Foundation, archived from the original on March 10, 2012.
- ^ Declaration (PDF), Will Durant foundation, archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2011.
- ^ Durant, Will. "Persia in the History of Civilization" (PDF). Addressing Iran-America Society. Mazda Publishers. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2011.
- Scribe Publications, pg. 1
- ^ Durant, Will, (1930). The Case for India, New York City, Simon & Schuster, p. 7
- ^ "An Examined Life". America Magazine. May 6, 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "The Reviews Are In | Society for US Intellectual History". July 13, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "Bibliography". Archived from the original on February 10, 2013.
External links
- The Will Durant Timeline Project
- The Pulitzer Prizes: 1968
- "Durant, Will and Durant, Ariel." Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service (Accessed May 14, 2005)
- Works by Will Durant at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Will Durant at Internet Archive
- Works by Will Durant at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Articles, Will Durant Foundation, archived from the original on May 17, 2011, preserved at the Internet Archive
- Will Durant's list of One Hundred Best Books for an Education
- Links to Each of Will Durant's 100 Best Books for an Education Archived April 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- Will Durant at IMDb
- Will Durant at Find a Grave