{"id":923,"date":"2024-10-05T15:18:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T13:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editionsdupleix.com\/?p=923"},"modified":"2024-10-05T17:32:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T15:32:36","slug":"review-by-c-e-ayres-of-philosophy-and-the-social-problem-by-will-durant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/editionsdupleix.com\/en\/2024\/10\/05\/review-by-c-e-ayres-of-philosophy-and-the-social-problem-by-will-durant\/","title":{"rendered":"(Review) by C. E. Ayres of \u00ab\u00a0Philosophy and the Social Problem\u00a0\u00bb by Will Durant."},"content":{"rendered":"
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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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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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 \u201cSociety for Social Research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Durant\u2019s exposition of the function of philosophy reveals a superpragmatic bias. The \u201cAbsolute\u201d is anathema to him; epistemology is self-befoggery. Scorn of the \u201cHistorismus\u201d of academic philosophy provokes his most brilliant epigrams. \u201cJust as philosophy without statesmanship is \u2014 let us say \u2014 epistemology, so statesmanship without philosophy is \u2014 American politics,\u201d he says. \u201cThe function of the philosopher is to do the listening to today\u2019s science, and then to do the thinking for tomorrow\u2019s statesmanship\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201ca wholesome measure of orientation\u201d to the author\u2019s notion of philosophy by showing \u201cthat the social problem has been the basic concern of many of the greatest philosophers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Durant\u2019s proposal for the establishment of a \u201cSociety for Social Research\u201d is sublime in its simplicity. It shall be founded by the organization of men of \u201crecognized intelligence.\u201d Are there any such men? Mr. Durant says there are. \u201cNow what does our society do? It seeks information. That, and not a program, is the fruitful beginning of reform\u201d. It then spreads \u201cthrough 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\u201d. \u201cImagine a people instructed in these sciences; with such a people civilization would begin\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are probably some sociologists who, agreeing with Dean Linn that the world\u2019s worst speeches are made in faculty meetings, will regard the society of professors with little enthusiasm. Moreover, it is easy to talk about the \u201csimple facts,\u201d but very hard to find any facts that possess that attribute. Biologists no longer mention the \u201csimple cell,\u201d and even the \u201csimple operations of the laws of supply and demand\u201d 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 \u201csimple truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C. E. Ayres, \u00ab\u00a0Review of Philosophy and the Social Problem<\/em> by Will Durant,\u00a0\u00bb American Journal of Sociology<\/em> 23, no. 4 (January 1918): 544-45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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