(Review) by C. E. Ayres of « Philosophy and the Social Problem » by Will Durant.

Cover, Will Durant, Philosophy and the Social Problem
Will Durant, Philosophy and the Social Problem, socially engaged philosophy, philosophy and social change, philosophers of social action, philosophy and inequality, philosophy and justice, philosophical activism, Will Durant social philosophy, philosophy and human welfare

This very readable and interesting book contains two perfectly distinct ideas, either one of which might be accepted by a man who violently disagreed with the other. One is an intensely instrumental conception of philosophy; the other is a proposal for an attack upon the problems of human misery and degradation by a “Society for Social Research.”

Dr. Durant’s exposition of the function of philosophy reveals a superpragmatic bias. The “Absolute” is anathema to him; epistemology is self-befoggery. Scorn of the “Historismus” of academic philosophy provokes his most brilliant epigrams. “Just as philosophy without statesmanship is — let us say — epistemology, so statesmanship without philosophy is — American politics,” he says. “The function of the philosopher is to do the listening to today’s science, and then to do the thinking for tomorrow’s statesmanship”.

The way is paved to this conception of philosophy, which is propounded in the latter part of the book, by a preparatory study of what philosophy meant to five of its choicest spirits. These sketches, connected by very brief summaries of the history of intervening thought, serve to provide “a wholesome measure of orientation” to the author’s notion of philosophy by showing “that the social problem has been the basic concern of many of the greatest philosophers.”

Dr. Durant’s proposal for the establishment of a “Society for Social Research” is sublime in its simplicity. It shall be founded by the organization of men of “recognized intelligence.” Are there any such men? Mr. Durant says there are. “Now what does our society do? It seeks information. That, and not a program, is the fruitful beginning of reform”. It then spreads “through the press the simple reports of its investigations, simple accounts of socially significant work in science, and simple statements of fact about the economic and political issues of the day”. “Imagine a people instructed in these sciences; with such a people civilization would begin”.

There are probably some sociologists who, agreeing with Dean Linn that the world’s worst speeches are made in faculty meetings, will regard the society of professors with little enthusiasm. Moreover, it is easy to talk about the “simple facts,” but very hard to find any facts that possess that attribute. Biologists no longer mention the “simple cell,” and even the “simple operations of the laws of supply and demand” have taken on a considerable degree of complexity since the days of Ricardo. There are some even among university professors who would pay high for a knowledge of the “simple truth.”

C. E. Ayres, « Review of Philosophy and the Social Problem by Will Durant, » American Journal of Sociology 23, no. 4 (January 1918): 544-45.

Will Durant, Philosophy and the Social Problem, socially engaged philosophy, philosophy and social change, philosophers of social action, philosophy and inequality, philosophy and justice, philosophical activism, Will Durant social philosophy, philosophy and human welfare

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