Waubonsee Community College

The pleasures of philosophy, a survey of human life and destiny, by Will Durant

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-415) and index

contains biographical information

index present

non fiction

The pleasures of philosophy

bibliography

3612686

by Will Durant

A Touchstone book

a survey of human life and destiny

Part one: introduction -- The lure of philosophy -- Prelude -- Epistemologs -- Theologians -- Scientists -- The queen of the sciences -- Part two: logic and epistemology -- What is truth? -- Sensation vs. reason -- The mystery of knowledge -- Reason vs. instinct -- Part three: metaphysics -- Matter, life, and mind -- Agnostic prelude -- Materialism -- Idealism -- What is matter? -- Life -- The materialist speaks -- The idealist replies -- Synthesis -- Is man a machine? -- Perspective -- Mechanism -- Determinism -- The age of biology -- Part four: problems of morality -- Our changing morals -- The relativity of morals -- The agricultural code -- The industrial code -- Our immoral elders -- The family -- Causes -- Morality and immorality -- Morality as intelligence -- Natural morality -- The criterion of morals -- The larger morality -- Sex and morality -- Love -- Why do we love? -- A biological approach -- The physiological foundation -- The spiritual development -- Men and women -- The war of love -- Differences of character -- 1 Racial instincts -- 2 Individualistic instincts -- 3 Social instincts -- Intellectual differences -- Woman and genius -- Are these differences innate? -- The modern woman -- The great change -- Causes -- Our daughters -- Our matriarchate -- The breakdown of marriage -- The evolution of marriage -- The dissolution of marriage -- The reconstruction of marriage -- On having babies -- About children: a confession -- Personal -- Physical -- Moral -- Erotic -- Mental -- Ecstatic -- The reconstruction of character -- The elements of character -- The negative character -- The positive character -- Remaking the character -- Recipes -- Part five: esthetics -- What is beauty? -- The sense of beauty among philosophers -- The sense of beauty in animals -- Primary beauty: persons -- Secondary beauty: nature -- Tertiary beauty: art -- Objective beauty -- Part six: philosophy of history -- The meaning of history: a symposium -- Prologue in Paumanok -- The theological interpretation of history -- The geographical interpretation of history -- The racial interpretation of history -- The economic interpretation of history -- The psychological interpretation of history -- Composite history -- Is progress a delusion? -- The youth of progress -- Progress in excelsis -- The case against progress -- Minor considerations -- The outline of history -- The destiny of civilization -- Post bellum neurosis -- The mortality of nations -- Economics and civilization -- Biology and civilization -- Sociology and civilization -- The perpetuity of civilization -- The future in America -- Part seven: political philosophy -- In praise of freedom -- Liquor and liberty -- The religion of liberty -- Anarchism -- The difficulties of freedom -- The Jeffersonian state -- Is democracy a failure? -- The origins of democracy -- The decay of democracy -- The mechanisms of democracy -- Nostrum -- Aristocracy -- Salvaging aristocracy -- Forms of government -- Statesmanship -- Conservatism -- Government and culture -- Democracy and chaos -- The faults of aristocracy -- Nostrum again -- How we made utopia -- On the uses of utopia -- The mayor rises -- The great committee -- Government by education -- Socialism by millionaires -- Financing utopia -- But in reality -- Part eight: religion: a dialogue -- The making of religion -- Animism -- Magic -- Totem and taboo -- Ancestor-worship -- Paganism -- From Confucius to Christ -- Confucius -- Mysticism -- Judaism -- Christianity -- Catholicism and Protestantism -- God and immortality -- Immortality -- The dead god -- The function of religion -- The new god -- Part nine: envoi -- On life and death -- Childhood -- Youth -- Middle age -- Death