The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers

The Story of Philosophy (1926) is a nonfiction book by the historian Will Durant. Believing that his fellow Americans did not possess enough education in philosophy, Durant wrote the work to provide a comprehensive and yet accessible account of Western philosophy. Durant takes a chronological approach, tracing the major developments in philosophy from Ancient Greece to some of the major philosophers of Durant’s own day. In doing so, Durant hopes to prepare the reader for a more in-depth look into those thinkers and the centuries-long debates that animated them. The book has gone through multiple editions and remains a popular introduction to philosophy to this day.  

This guide uses the 1926 hardcover edition by Simon & Schuster.

Content Warning: The source text contains androcentric language. It only includes Western perspectives, and makes some derogatory remarks regarding other cultures and their own contribution to philosophy.

Summary

Durant begins The Story of Philosophy with Socrates. He notes that philosophy begins not with the emergence of a superior mind, but rather a crisis where both religious and political authority had broken down, prompting a search for knowledge beyond what discredited authorities could provide. Socrates’s project puts forth questions which subsequent philosophers will debate for millennia.