will durant (1885-1981), male, a famous American scholar, won the Pulitzer Prize (1968) and the Medal of Freedom (1977), and his main works include The History of World Civilization.
Chinese name: WillDurant
mbth: Will Durant
Nationality: United States
Date of birth: 1885
Date of death: 1981
Occupation: philosopher, historian
Representative works: History of World Civilization and Story of Philosophy
Gender:. It took him 5 years to complete the emperor's masterpiece History of World Civilization, which won him wide acclaim in academic circles, while The Story of Philosophy, which he wrote in his later years, won a wide reputation for its kind and lively style.
Life experience
will durant was born in 1885 and died in 1981. At the age of 12, he was sent to a missionary school by his mother, hoping to make "this naughty and nonsense child become an excellent missionary". As a result, Durant not only failed to become a missionary, but was also excommunicated for writing an article disrespectful to religion (The Origin of Religion). As he clearly realized to Christianity at the age of 19, "it is just one of hundreds of religious beliefs, and they all declare that they can save mankind and popularize the truth".
Honors won
In p>1968, he won the Pulitzer Prize; In 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 of human beings and the brilliant cultural and artistic heritage.
The main work
History of World Civilization
It took Will Duran more than 5 years to feature the 11-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 abstruse philosophy. The comments after the book say that he is "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, pay the price and gain rights for it. Therefore, philosophy should become the wisdom of the general public. However, as we all know, due to various reasons, philosophy has actually become a few philosophers' private plots and furnishings, and philosophy has been monopolized by experts and forgotten by the public, thus 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 constantly enjoy and learn, enriches the lives of millions of people and makes people more tolerant." He also maintained respect and objectivity for history. On the one hand, he said, "human history is just 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 the survival of the fittest. All psychology, philosophy, political strategies and utopian fantasies must follow the biological laws. On the other hand, he hopes to truly understand people by studying history. After all, history is a philosophical teaching based on examples.
The Greatest Thought in History
"When life becomes bitter, friendship slips away and children are no longer with 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 some loyal friends who have given us the best things. They never ask for anything in return, but 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 the end of the chapter of the 1 best educational books recommended by will durant. In this book, Durant introduced us to 1 greatest thinkers, 1 greatest poets, 1 best educational books and 1 great leaps of human progress with beautiful and concise brushstrokes.
In The Greatest Thought in History, Durant frankly said that he recognized and admired "the great geniuses who once stood above our lives in history", and he regarded this worship as "the ultimate belief". In his view, "real history is not trivial statistics of prices and salaries, nor large-scale elections and wars, nor the life process of ordinary people. History should only belong to those who have made contributions to the cultural process of mankind. At the same time, "genius stands beside the goddess of wisdom, holding a candle to light the way for us", leading us to enter heaven in the "living present". The author's firm belief may touch the most secret nerve in our hearts. We are "atheists" and "historical materialists". Our education since childhood tells us that history was created by the masses, so we are used to evaluating history by the scale of the masses, and we can't conceal the great figures who have contributed to the formation and development of China culture. When they come to the masses, they are only reduced to a "figure". The most common manner of the masses is what Durant said, "I like to brag about myself by belittling others, especially pointing out the shortcomings of great men, which can satisfy this psychology." Some scholars have worked hard for many years to make a handful of "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 (1885-1981). It has been selling well for thirty years after its publication and has been translated into French, German, Japanese and Chinese. This book is not a complete history of philosophy, but introduces the lives and viewpoints of the major philosophers in history by telling stories. While expounding the thoughts of each philosopher, it also introduces in detail the background, life circumstances and emotions of their lives, and also makes pertinent criticisms on each philosopher. The writing of this book is vivid, lively and interesting, and the author writes 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 characters are omitted, so that those selected can have enough space to bring them to life. Therefore, those semi-legendary pre-Socratic schools, Stoicism schools, epicureanism, scholastics and epistemologists did not give them proper 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 matter, which gives us knowledge; Philosophy must be integrated and give us wisdom.
Heroes in History
Four years before will durant's death, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer began to write the last work in his life. This creative plan originated from a strong desire of him, his wife and daughter to write a short version of the highly acclaimed series History of World Civilization. Although there are more or less traces of the abbreviated version of the History of World Civilization, it is definitely not a book about the accumulation of historical time, people and events. Durant, as always, takes the evolution of civilization as a way to examine history. He listed a list, including Confucius, Li Bai, Buddha, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates, Shakespeare and Bacon Durant. Through these historical cultural heroes, he painted us a magnificent cultural picture spanning several decades, and history was presented in 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, discussing philosophy with Socrates; Shakespeare is here and brings new literary wealth every day; Keats listened to the nightingale, and Shelley sang 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.