Will Durant
William James Durant ( born November 5, 1885 in North Adams, Massachusetts, † November 7, 1981 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American philosopher and writer.
Life
Will Durant, the son of French- Canadian parents who attended schools in Jersey City. He first worked as a journalist, then as a teacher. On the Ferrer Modern School in New York, he fell in love with a young student, Chaya Kaufman. He gave up his teaching profession and married Chaya - which he initially Puck, later called Ariel - 1913; they had a daughter, Ethel, and an adopted son.
Socialist since 1905, he fought for equal pay, women's suffrage and better working conditions for American workers. He wrote a number of books and newspaper articles on these subjects and tried his new ideas ( and later his philosophical and historical accounts ) to bring the common people closer.
In 1917 he received his doctorate in philosophy at Columbia University. With its philosophy of history The Story of Philosophy, he obtained both a lot of popularity as well as financial independence, which it him and his wife allowed to take trips in all continents and (from 1927) to work more than four decades at their common major work: The Story of Civilization. His wife was from the start, co-author, but was mentioned by name only from Volume 7. For the 10th volume of this extensive history of mankind ( Durant himself spoke of an integral history), they received 1968 Pulitzer Prize in the category of " non-fiction ".
Died in 1981 his wife, Ariel Durant and in quick succession he in Los Angeles.
Works
Books (selection)
A complete bibliography can be found here.
- The Story of Philosophy. the Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers, Simon and Schuster, New York 1926 German: The great thinkers. Preface by Hans Driesch, Orell Füssli, Zurich, undated (1930 )
- As Bastion - Luebbe Paperback, translated and edited by Andreas Hecht: Bergisch Gladbach 1980, ISBN 3-404-63055-6.
- Revised edition as: The Pleasures of Philosophy, Simon and Schuster, New York 1953
- Re: Promethean Press, Dallas 2004
Books (together with Ariel Durant )
- The Story of Civilization, 11 vol. , Simon and Schuster, New York 1935-75 German edition: The history of civilization and ( from 1956) cultural history of mankind, 10 volumes, Francke, Bern / Munich 1946-69 first complete edition: cultural history of mankind, 18 volumes, Southwest, Munich 1978
- Dt The lessons of history, Francke, Bern / Munich 1969
Movies (together with Ariel Durant )
- Journey, Robert Cohn Productions, 1973
- A Visit with Will and Ariel Durant, Northern River Productions, 2003
Quote
- " A superior culture can not be conquered from without, as long as it has not been destroyed from within themselves. "