Philosophy and the Social Problem

Will Durant's debut is a firebrand manifesto disguised as philosophy. He accuses his discipline of abandoning the messy, burning world for pristine abstractions, retreating to ivory towers while millions suffer in poverty, child labor, and despair. For Durant, philosophy's only justification is practical: it must serve the common person or die. The social problem is his term for the crisis of his age, and ours: the chasm between rich and poor, the choice between education and exploitation, the choice between justice and indifference. Using Socrates, Plato, Nietzsche, and others as guides, he demands philosophy descend from the clouds and get its hands dirty with the real work of human welfare. Nearly a century later, when inequality again defines our moment, this compact, impassioned plea feels less like a historical artifact and more like a warning we refused to hear.