Perspective

Will Durant is an historian who writes the Story of Philosophy to provide a personal dimension to the study of philosophy. The author does not intend to write a complete and comprehensive history of philosophy. His stated goal is to humanize the knowledge of speculative thought around certain dominant philosophers. He writes about the greater philosophers as individuals who have human personalities and lifestyles that impact their philosophies. Durant also adds credibility to the environment in which a philosopher lives and speculates. For example, early Greece is a small island that has many city-states with separate politics and economies. The coastline of Greece is rough, dangerous and causes isolation of its population. If the coast were easier to navigate, fewer independent areas with their own thinkers may develop. Similarly, a post -evolution Europe ravaged by war gives the philosophers of that age, like Schopenhauer, a different point of...