The Joys of Philosophy

Author's Name: Will and Ariel Durant

This book is an attempt to establish a coherent philosophy of life. It seeks to do with the problems of philosophy what the writers of *The Story of Philosophy* tried to do with the personalities and doctrines of most philosophers: to bring them closer to understanding through pure expression and to transfer them to life through modern application. Perhaps we will receive a good reward when we draw closer to the concerns of our own lives these days, for the subject that concerns us here is ourselves. We note that human behavior and beliefs are today subject to changes that are more profound and more turbulent than they were when wealth grew and philosophy appeared, putting an end to the inherited religion of the Greeks. We are now in the age of Socrates once again: our moral life is threatened with collapse, our intellectual life is multiplying in its course and its horizons are expanding, all at the expense of old traditions and beliefs. Everything, whether in our thoughts or in our actions, is new and experimental, and nothing is stable or certain anymore.