Review: The Story of Philosophy

The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There may be no better popularizer of philosophy than Durant. Everyone interested in getting a footing un understand the history and goals of philosophy should read at least one Durant title, and this may be a good one. It even includes a glossary of basic terms. Durant's self-effacing introduction and helpful, pellucid footnotes ease the reader into the rugged topography of idealism, materialism, etc. This is a rather brisk overview, Leibniz is a notable exclusion, and the modern era American philosophers gets an especially brisk, cursory examination.

Naturally, this starts with the Greeks: Plato and then Aristotle. A huge leap over the Scholastics leads us to Francis Bacon and the persecuted, defamed Spinoza who got Western civilization back on track with original thinking and the scientific method. Voltaire represents the French Enlightenment and Immanuel Kant German idealism. Arthur Schopenhauer gets the whole chapter he deserves, but I did not expect to see the same treatment for Herbert Spencer.

Breathlessly, contemporary European philosophy is represented by Henri Bergson, Bendetto Croce, and Bertrand Russell when I think it would have been better to focus only on Russell who represents so much in his long and varied career. Similarly, contemporary American philosophy comes from George Santayana, John Dewey, and William James. For the space given I would have had more of James, but this choice is less clear to me.

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