The Pleasures of Philosophy

Fülszöveg

PHILOSOPHY
The Pleasures of Philosophy
Confronting the timeless issues of man and metaphysics, the author of The Story of Philosophy and The Story of Civilization here endeavors to make these perennial problems "intelligible by transparent speech, and to vitalize them by contemporary application.'*
"The subject here is ourselves," says Will Durant in a characteristic "Invitation" to the pleasures within, "The book is an attempt at a consistent philosophy of life.
"We shall dally for a while with logic, and try to answer Pilate; we shall merely graze epistemology, and acknowledge the limits of human understanding; these usurping disciplines will find here the modest space which is all they need have in the mansions of philosophy.
"Then we shall leap into the metaphysical center of things and make up our minds about materialism; we shall see, if we may, whether though is a function of matter, and whether choice is the delusion of a transiently animated machine.
"From that... Tovább

Fülszöveg

PHILOSOPHY
The Pleasures of Philosophy
Confronting the timeless issues of man and metaphysics, the author of The Story of Philosophy and The Story of Civilization here endeavors to make these perennial problems "intelligible by transparent speech, and to vitalize them by contemporary application.'*
"The subject here is ourselves," says Will Durant in a characteristic "Invitation" to the pleasures within, "The book is an attempt at a consistent philosophy of life.
"We shall dally for a while with logic, and try to answer Pilate; we shall merely graze epistemology, and acknowledge the limits of human understanding; these usurping disciplines will find here the modest space which is all they need have in the mansions of philosophy.
"Then we shall leap into the metaphysical center of things and make up our minds about materialism; we shall see, if we may, whether though is a function of matter, and whether choice is the delusion of a transiently animated machine.
"From that focus we shall adventure into the realm of ethics, and inquire into the nature of the good life; we shall seek the causes and forecast the results of our changing morals, our dissolving marriage, and our loosened love; we shall discuss the modern woman without gallantry, and without revenge; we shall confront Zeno with Epicurus and search for the haunts of happiness; we shall bring our findings^/ together for the guidance of education and the reconstruction of char-'' acter.
"Esthetics will claim us for an hour, and we shall consider the meaning of beauty and the prospects of art. We shall look at history and seek for its lessons and laws; we shall question the quality of progress, and weigh the destiny of our civilization.
"Then political philosophy will lure us, and we shall find oUrselves debating, as in our passionate youth, the problems of anarchism, communism, socialism, conservatism, democracy, aristocracy, and dictatorship.
"The philosophy of religion will ask us the old questions of immorality and God; and we shall try to see the past and future of Christianity in the perspective of the whole history of religion.
"Finally we shall bring the pessimist and the optimist together, appraising the boons and pains of life; and looking over the whole we shall try to state in conclusion the worth and meaning of life. It will be a tour of the infinite." Vissza