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A review by tackman_babcock
The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers by Will Durant
4.0
I got a lot out of this book; it's an extraordinary privilege to be introduced to some of the greatest historical thinkers in a way that feels surprisingly personal, yet still engages fairly solidly with the heart of their intellectual contributions.
Durant's writing is charming in many places, and I had a good chortle over his frequent gibes over whether this or that way of thinking about the world was particulary German, or particularly French etc etc. These insights can be entertaining or valuable- think for a moment about the way French comedy films for example might tend to explore a ridiculous character who has no sense of his place in the world, while comedy in Britain might explore a character who is overly cognisant of the worlds expectations of him and whose response is of insecurity and false bravado.
Sadly, those kinds of quips become remarkably less charming when Durant uses a paragraph or two of his book to muse over the history of thought in places like India, which he apparently thinks must have challenges contributing to the philosophic body of knowledge because it is very hot there.
Durant's writing is charming in many places, and I had a good chortle over his frequent gibes over whether this or that way of thinking about the world was particulary German, or particularly French etc etc. These insights can be entertaining or valuable- think for a moment about the way French comedy films for example might tend to explore a ridiculous character who has no sense of his place in the world, while comedy in Britain might explore a character who is overly cognisant of the worlds expectations of him and whose response is of insecurity and false bravado.
Sadly, those kinds of quips become remarkably less charming when Durant uses a paragraph or two of his book to muse over the history of thought in places like India, which he apparently thinks must have challenges contributing to the philosophic body of knowledge because it is very hot there.