Brief introduction of will durant

Will durant (1885- 198 1), male, is a famous American scholar. He has won the Pulitzer Prize (1968) and the Medal of Freedom (1977), and his main works are The History of World Civilization.

Chinese name: will durant.

Will Durant

Nationality: USA

Date of birth: 1885

Date of death: 198 1

Occupation: philosopher, historian

Masterpiece: History of World Civilization and Story of Philosophy.

Gender: male

outline

Will durant, born in 1885, is a famous American scholar and a tenured professor of philosophy. He won the Pulitzer Prize and the Medal of Freedom for his outstanding academic achievements. It took him 50 years to complete the emperor's magnum opus History of World Civilization, which won him wide acclaim in academic circles, while The Story of Philosophy written in his later years won a wide reputation for its kind and vivid style.

life experience

Will durant was born in 1885 and died in 198 1. /kloc-When he was 0/2 years old, he was sent to a missionary school by his mother, hoping to make "this naughty child become an excellent missionary". As a result, Durant not only failed to become a missionary, but was also excommunicated for writing an article that disrespected religion (The Origin of Religion). As he clearly recognized Christianity at the age of 19, "it is only one of hundreds of religious beliefs, which all claim to save mankind and popularize the truth."

win an honour

1968 won the Pulitzer Prize; 1977, he won the medal of freedom for his great achievements and contributions in various fields. "Fearless hero worship" is Durant's philosophical creed. It took him half a century to complete the History of Western Civilization, just to emphasize the profound wisdom and splendid cultural and artistic heritage of mankind.

main work

History of world civilization

It took Will Duran more than 50 years to complete the 1 1 volume History of World Civilization. He has been engaged in a research work that can bring benefits to most people all his life, that is, popularizing profound philosophy. The commentary after the book said that he was "enthusiastically committed to liberating philosophy from the academic ivory tower and letting it enter the lives of more ordinary people". Philosophy asks about the ultimate essence of the world and life. Everyone who lives has a life, and everyone should take responsibility for it, pay the price and get the rights. Therefore, philosophy should become the wisdom of the masses. However, as we all know, for various reasons, philosophy has actually become the reservation and decoration of a few philosophers, and philosophy has been monopolized by experts and forgotten by the public, forming a pattern of "people don't understand philosophy, and philosophy doesn't care about people". Therefore, Durant's research is particularly important. It "makes readers all over the world enjoy and learn constantly, enriches the lives of millions of people and makes people more tolerant." He also maintained his respect and objectivity for history. On the one hand, he said, "human history is only a fragment in the history of biological development." Man is one of countless creatures in the world. Like other creatures, human beings are constantly fighting for survival and competing for survival of the fittest. All psychology, philosophy, political strategies and utopian fantasies must follow biological laws. On the other hand, he hopes to really understand people by studying history. After all, history is a philosophy teaching based on examples.

The greatest thought in history

"When life becomes bitter, friendship slips away, and children are no longer around us, we can sit at the table with Shakespeare and Goethe, laugh at the world with rabelais, and enjoy the beauty of autumn with Keats. These are loyal friends who have given us the best things. They never ask for anything in return and always wait for our call. As long as we walk with them for a while and listen to their stories quietly, our weakness can be cured and we can really feel the inner peace after mutual understanding. " This poetic language is at the end of the chapter of 100 Best Educational Books recommended by will durant. In this book, Durant introduced us to 10 the greatest thinkers, 10 the greatest poets, 100 the best educational books and 10 the great leap of human progress with beautiful and concise brushstrokes.

In "The Greatest Thought in History", Durant admits that he recognizes and worships "the great genius who once surpassed our lives in history", and he regards this worship as "the ultimate belief". In his view, "real history is not trivial price and salary statistics, nor large-scale elections and wars, nor is it the life process of ordinary people. History should only belong to those heroes and geniuses who have made lasting contributions to the process of human culture. At the same time, "genius stands beside the goddess of wisdom, holding candles to light the way for us" and leads us into heaven in the "living moment". The author's firm belief may touch the most secret nerve in our hearts. We are "atheists" and "historical materialists". The education we have received since childhood tells us that history is created by the masses, so we are used to evaluating history by the yardstick of the masses, and we can't hide the great figures who have contributed to the formation and development of China culture. Among the masses, they only become a "character". The most common way for the masses is that Durant said, "I like to brag about myself by belittling others, especially pointing out the shortcomings of great men, which can satisfy this psychology." "After years of hard work, some scholars have made a few' great' figures in the history of China' walk off the altar' and become a member of the vulgar public.

The story of philosophy

The Story of Philosophy is a famous work by will durant (1885- 198 1). In the thirty years since its publication, it has been a best seller and has been translated into French, German, Japanese and Chinese. This book is not a complete history of philosophy, but introduces the life and views of the main philosophers in history by telling stories. While expounding the thoughts of each philosopher, it also introduces their life background, life situation and emotion in detail, and also makes a pertinent criticism to each philosopher. The style of this book is lively and interesting, and the author has written a fascinating story with simple strokes. This book is not a complete history of philosophy. It is an attempt to humanize knowledge by focusing on the stories of pure theoretical thinking of some main characters. Some minor roles are omitted, so that those selected roles can have enough space to give them life. Therefore, those semi-legendary pre-Socratic school, Stoic school, Epicurus school, scholastics and epistemologists did not give them due treatment. The author thinks that epistemology has led modern philosophy astray and almost destroyed it. He hopes that one day people will realize that the study of knowledge process is a psychological matter, and philosophy will be understood as a comprehensive explanation of all cognition, rather than an analytical explanation of the way and process of cognition itself. Analysis is a scientific thing, it gives us knowledge; Philosophy must be comprehensive and give us wisdom.

Heroes in history

Four years before will durant's death, the Pulitzer Prize winner began to write the last work of his life. This creative plan stems from a strong desire of him, his wife and daughter to write a simplified version of the widely acclaimed series History of World Civilization. Although the abbreviated version of History of World Civilization has some traces more or less, it is definitely not a book about the accumulation of historical time, people and events. Durant, as always, regards the evolution of civilization as a way to examine history. He made a list, including Confucius, Li Bai, Buddha, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates, Shakespeare and Bacon Durant. Through these historical and cultural heroes, he painted us a magnificent cultural picture spanning decades, and history was presented with such a light weight. "Because of those wonderful memories and traditions, the ancient creative spirit still exists. People are still working, carving, creating and singing. Plato is here to discuss philosophy with Socrates; Shakespeare is here and brings new literary wealth every day; Keats listens to the nightingale and Shelley sings the west wind; Nietzsche is here, continuing to shout and speak; Christ is here, calling us to share his bread. " His concise and poetic words are telling the fact that the wealth left by many heroes is the precious heritage of mankind and the most shining main line in the historical process.