In "Philosophy and the Social Problem," Will Durant's first book, Durant argues that philosophy has fallen into disrepute because it has stood high and dry upon academic ground, has occupied itself generally with the problem of knowledge, and has not gone down among the crowd to be of practical service. Durant says that philosophy can justify itself only by fruits which are of direct utility to the common man. And since the great prblem of the modern world is the social problem - the problem of waste and want, rich and poor, luxury and starvation, child labor and education, crime, and so on - it follows that philosophy must be brought to take this problem in hand and that it will stand or fall as a factor in civilization according as it is or is not adequate to its solution. The new edition of this hard-to-find treasure is fully annotated with philosophical details, historical facts, and behind-the-scenes insights into the man and his ideas.
