William Durant | |
|---|---|
 Durant in 1967 | |
| Born | William James Durant November 5, 1885 North Adams, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | November 7, 1981 (aged 96) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation |
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| Education | Saint Peter's College (BA, 1907) Columbia University (PhD, 1917) |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Subject | History, philosophy, religion |
| Spouse | |
William James Durant (/dəˈrænt/; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American historian and philosopher, best known for his 11-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. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy (1926), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy".[1]
Durant conceived of philosophy as total perspective or seeing things sub specie totius (i.e., "from the perspective of the whole")—a phrase inspired by Spinoza's sub specie aeternitatis, roughly meaning "from the perspective of the eternal".[2] He sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge, which had grown voluminous and become fragmented into esoteric specialties, and to vitalize it for contemporary application.[3] As a result of their success, he and his wife were jointly awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.
- ^ Rogers, Will (1966). Gragert, Steven K. (ed.). The Papers of Will Rogers. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 393.[dubious – discuss] The details of this book appear to be wrong – see talk page
- ^ Durant, Will. "What is Philosophy?". Archived from the original on December 28, 2010.
- ^ Durant, Will (1935). Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster. p. vii.