The Story of Philosophy

The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers

By: Will Durant

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

The product of 11 years of research, The Story of Philosophy is an endlessly inspiring and instructive chronicle of the world’s greatest thinkers, from Socrates to Santayana. Written with exacting and scrupulous scholarship, it was designed both to command the respect of educators and to capture the interest of the layman.

Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.

Will Durant (1885-1981) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He spent over 50 years writing his critically acclaimed 11-volume series The Story of Civilization. A champion of human-rights issues such as social reform and the brotherhood of man long before they were popular, he continues to educate and entertain readers and listeners worldwide through his writings.

©1926 Will Durant (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A delight.” ( New York Times)

“Easily the most engaging writer of Western intellectual history in the English language, Will Durant breathes life into philosophers and their ideas. He is colorful, witty, and above all, informative.” (Amazon.com review)

Beginners Guide.

I may wax philosophically once in awhile, but by no means call myself a philosopher. After reading this; what I would describe as an introduction to the giants of philosophy, would be less than ever likely to compare even my most perpending thoughts to those of these great thinkers. Will Durant does a wonderful job at sharing the concepts of these pillars of philosophy, as well as expressing how their ideologies may have effected the societies and cultures of the relative time.
This is a book for people like me, who have heard the names, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Stewart Mill, or Francis Bacon, but understand them vicariously through brief mentionings and opinions of other authors(for me authors not even in this field). I began this book with ignorant curiosity, and finished with a love of the subject. There is so much information here, you must read it more than one time just to take away from it a basal construct of the philosophies tought within. I suggest bookmarking this cover to the hilt, because it reads like a reference book. More than worth the single credit! Have at it fellow Audible fans!

Sentence structure often confusing

Thought order, if used correctly and not confused by diversionary clarifications, along with word choice, placement, and punctuation, and to a lesser degree, sentence structure, and to an even lesser degree, paragraph structure, are helpful to comprehension.

Sentences with the subject at the end made me rewind frequently. Otherwise, an interesting intro to European philosophy.

libro interesante

sin duda la temática es interesante. lamentablemente no pude terminar de escucharlo debido a la narración. Nunca tuve problemas escuchando libros leidos en inglés, pero la velocidad con que el narrador lee me hizo muy díficil seguirlo

Great Introduction

Philosophy doesn't exactly lend itself to the audio book format. I found myself making liberal use of the 30 second rewind throughout the entire book. There are simply too many ideas with too many nuances present in the text. Despite my minor difficulty adjusting to the format, I fully enjoyed Durant's historical tour de force. He does have his own biases and these are quite evident as he explains the work of other thinkers. But I wouldn't have it any other way. To truly engage with a worldview, you have to respond to it honestly, and Durant does. After giving a short biography and then going into detail about each figure's main ideas, he offers up criticism from his 20th Century point of view.

Great read for a general overview of philosophy...

... through the ages. The author does a great job of making it a captivating experience throughout. Fascinating insight and a very good wit to add a bit of a intellectual comedy in an otherwise very serious topic

A great philosophy book

it’s almost like an anthology of philosophy. durant’s words and interpretations/explanations of each philosopher are just as profound as there’s. so many great quotes and interesting stories here for a philosophy beginner like me. this gave me more philosophers and ideas to research. the chapters on aristotle, bergson, and russell were the strongest imo but the whole book was great. this is the first review i’ve felt compelled to write.

Before you start on western philosophy

Would you consider the audio edition of The Story of Philosophy to be better than the print version?

Yes. Like Russell's History of Western Philosophy it helps to put the philosophers in place and time. Listening to it is a great way to absorb it. Listen to both, twice or more, before you start delving deeper into philosophy.

Enlightening

A snapshot into the lives and minds of the most influential philosophers of European thought. Very enlightening. The book starts off with the Greeks and moving on chrologically.

Deep

Its a book that is would loose it's essence if listened to whilst driving or doing something else. Albeit that being my main avenue for audiobooks, I would advise listeners to listen to this in a "library-like" environment to fully, or more deeply appreciate the essence of this book. It is a good book for those who appreciate philosophy and the narrators performance was excellent.

Great Beginnings

for an introduction to philosophy. Quite informative as well as entertaining worth the time. enjoy