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Cover of The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant

The Story of Philosophy

  • 543 pages · about 9 hours
  • First published 1926
  • 150 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers is a 1926 book by Will Durant, in which he profiles several prominent Western philosophers and their ideas, beginning with Socrates and Plato and on through Friedrich Nietzsche.

Durant attempts to show the interconnection of their ideas and how one philosopher's ideas informed the next. There are nine chapters each focused on one philosopher, and two more chapters each containing briefer profiles of three early 20th century philosophers.

The book was published in 1926, with a revised second edition released in 1933. The work was preceded by a number of pamphlets in the Little Blue Books series of inexpensive worker education pamphlets. They proved so popular they were assembled into a single book and published in hardcover form by Simon & Schuster in 1926.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Good for readers who want: philosophy, history, a true life story, and a long read.

  • Philosophy
  • History
  • Biography
  • Philosophy, history
  • Philosophers

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3 About Will Durant

1885–1981

William James Durant (; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American historian and philosopher, best known for his eleven-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.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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