William James Durant (November 5, 1875 – November 7, 1981) was a prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy, written in 1926, which one observer described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy."[1]
He conceived of philosophy as total perspective, or, seeing things "sub specie totius," a phrase derived from Spinoza's "sub specie aeternitatis."[2] He sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge, which had grown too voluminous and become fragmented into esoteric specialties, and to vitalize it for contemporary application.[3] Durant was a gifted prose stylist and storyteller who won a large readership in great part because of the nature and excellence of his writing, which, in contrast to formal academic language, is lively, witty, ornate and often epigrammatic.
Will and Ariel Durant were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1968 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.
发表于2025-02-28
The Lessons of History 2025 pdf epub mobi 电子书
威尔·杜兰特跟胡适是同学,都是大哲学家杜威的学生,威尔·杜兰特是美国著名学者、终身哲学教授,《历史的教训》是他与夫人合著的一本书。 在写《历史的教训》之前,从上世纪20年代末期开始,威尔·杜兰特用了50年的时间写出了11卷的《世界文明史》,内容涵盖政治、经济、军...
评分 评分2018年读的,当时对世界历史连一知半解都谈不上,单纯觉得这书短小精悍。 最近学世界史,常常不由地想起这书的观点来。战争是常态,和平是异态。财富集中是自然趋势。平等和自由,无法兼得。能指望的最佳状态,是法律和教育机会的大致平等,希望尤在于教育。人性经不起考验。革...
评分历史的第一个教训就是要学会谦逊,人类历史只是宇宙的一瞬,一颗小行星的撞击就可能让人类全体灭绝。 飞机的发展会让地理上的限制变小,制空权在新形势下要比制海权更为重要。 弱肉强食,适者生存,生命即是竞争,竞争养分,粮食,阳光,土地和配偶,乃至上升到国与国的层次。...
评分历史的第一个教训就是要学会谦逊,人类历史只是宇宙的一瞬,一颗小行星的撞击就可能让人类全体灭绝。 飞机的发展会让地理上的限制变小,制空权在新形势下要比制海权更为重要。 弱肉强食,适者生存,生命即是竞争,竞争养分,粮食,阳光,土地和配偶,乃至上升到国与国的层次。...
图书标签: 历史 history 哲学 英文原版 原版 英文 will-durant 经典
The Lessons of History is a book by historians Will Durant and Ariel Durant.
In The Lessons of History the authors provided a summary of periods and trends in history they had noted upon completion of their momentous eleven volume The Story of Civilization. Will Durant stated that he and Ariel "made note of events and comments that might illuminate present affairs, future probabilities, the nature of man, and the conduct of states."
The book thus presents an overview of the themes and lessons observed from 5000 years of world history examined from 13 perspectives such as geography, biology, race, character, morals, religion, economics, socialism, government, war, growth and decay and progress.
文笔优美,富有洞见~
评分Durant's beautiful prose begs to be read aloud.
评分挺有意思的一本小书。Ray Dalio 在 charlie rose 访谈中推荐过。
评分还行写的不错
评分文笔很棒,虽说好像没什么新观点(毕竟是在1968年)。最后说历史的意义就在于把愈来愈丰富的文化传承下去,怎么说呢,总比没有意义要好。
The Lessons of History 2025 pdf epub mobi 电子书