[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-46171-en":3,"doc-seo-46171-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},46171,962075114765,"Quinn","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",2,"Literature","The Story of Civilization I Our Oriental Heritage","The preface outlines Will Durant’s ambitious project to write a unified history of civilization across regions and eras, aiming to connect the causes, character, and effects of cultural development. It argues that traditional history split into separate fields fails to show the total complex of a nation’s culture, institutions, religion, morals, literature, science, philosophy, and art. The series plan is presented in five parts, beginning with “Our Oriental Heritage,” covering Egypt, the Near East, and Asian civilizations up to the present day.","# THE STORY OF CIVILIZATIONI\n\nHeritaqe  \nWILL DURANT  \nBeing a History of Civilization in Egypt and the Near Eastto the Death of Alexander;and in India,China and Japanfrom the Beginningto Our Own Day;with an Introductionon the Nature and Foundations of Civilization  \n## BY WILL DURANTThe Story of PhilosophyTransition\n\nThe Pleasures of PhilosophyAdventures in Genius  \nTHE STORY OF CIVILIZATIONBY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT  \nI.Our Oriental Heritage  \nII.The Life of Greece  \nIII.Caesar and Christ  \nIV.The Age of Faith  \nV.The Renaissance  \nVI.The Reformation  \nVII.The Age of Reason Begins  \nVIII.The Age of Louis XIV  \nIX.The Age of Voltaire  \nX.Rousseau and Revolution  \nOUR  \n## ORIENTALHERITAGE\n\nBeing a bistory of civilization in Egypt and the Near Eastto the death of Alexander,and in India,China and Japanfrom the beginning to our own day;with an introduction,on the nature and foundations of civilization  \nBy Will Durant  \n左  \nSIMON AND SCHUSTER  \nTWENTY-SIXTH PRINTING  \nLibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number:35-10016  \nMANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICABY THE HADDON CRAFTSMEN,INC.,SCRANTON,PA.  \nTO ARIEL  \n## Preface\n\nT HAVE tried in this book to accomplish the first part of a pleasantI assignment which I rashly laid upon myself some twenty years ago:towrite a history of civilization.I wish to tell as much as I can,in as littlespace as I can,of the contributions that genius and labor have made to thecultural heritage of mankind-to chronicle and contemplate,in their causes,character and effects,the advances of invention,the varieties of economicorganization,the experiments in government,the aspirations of religion,the mutations of morals and manners,the masterpieces of literature,the de-velopment of science,the wisdom of philosophy,and the achievements ofart.I do not need to be told how absurd this enterprise is,nor how im-modest is its very conception;for many years of effort have brought it tobut a fifth of its completion,and have made it clear that no one mind,andno single lifetime,can adequately compass this task.Nevertheless I havedreamed that despite the many errors inevitable in this undertaking,it maybe of some use to those upon whom the passicn for philosophy has laid thecompulsion to try to see things whole,to pursue perspective,unity andunderstanding through history in time,as well as to seek them throughscience in space.  \nI have long felt that our usual method of writing history in separatelongitudinal sections-economic history,political history,religious history,the history of philosophy,the history of literature,the history of science,the history of music,the history of art-does injustice to the unity ofhuman life;that history should be written collaterally as well as lineally,synthetically as well as analytically;and that the ideal historiographywould seek to portray in each period the total complex of a nation's culture,institutions,adventures and ways.But the accumulation of knowledge hasdivided history,like science,into a thousand isolated specialties;and pru-dent scholars have refrained from attempting any view of the whole一whether of the material universe,or of the living past of our race.For theprobability of error increases with the scope of the undertaking,and anyman who sells his soul to synthesis will be a tragic target for a myriadmerry darts of specialist critique.\"Consider,\"said Ptah-hotep five thousandyears ago,\"how thou mayest be opposed by an expert in council.It is  \nPREFA CE  \nfoolish to speak on every kind of work.”*A.history of civilization sharesthe presumptuousness of every philosophical enterprise:it offers the ridicu-lous spectacle of a fragment expounding the whole.Like philosophy,sucha venture has no rational excuse,and is at best but a brave stupidity;but letus hope that,like philosophy,it will always lure some rash spirits into itsfatal depths.  \nThe plan of the series is to narrate the history of civilization in five inde-pendent parts:  \nI.Our Oriental Heritage:a history of civ","cbCaia0KNwzZLcQB","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaia0KNwzZLcQB","pdf",55618979,1,1152,"English","en",105,"# Preface\n## Purpose and scope of the series\n## Critique of separated historical fields\n## Plan: five independent parts\n## Why the story begins with the Orient","[{\"question\":\"What is the main purpose of Durant’s “Story of Civilization” project?\",\"answer\":\"To chronicle and contemplate, in cause-and-effect terms, humanity’s cultural heritage—linking inventions, economics, government, religion, morals, literature, science, philosophy, and art into a broader unity across history.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does Durant criticize the usual way of writing history?\",\"answer\":\"He argues that separating history into isolated specialties (political, economic, religious, and so on) does injustice to the unity of human life and prevents a synthetic view of a whole culture in each period.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the book plan propose before the narrative begins?\",\"answer\":\"The series is structured into five independent parts, starting with “Our Oriental Heritage,” which covers civilization in Egypt and the Near East up to Alexander’s death, and in India, China, and Japan up to the present day.\"}]",1783472183,1774,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-story-of-civilization-i-our-oriental-heritage","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-story-of-civilization-i-our-oriental-heritage/46171/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-12","2026-07-08",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What is the main purpose of Durant’s “Story of Civilization” project?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"To chronicle and contemplate, in cause-and-effect terms, humanity’s cultural heritage—linking inventions, economics, government, religion, morals, literature, science, philosophy, and art into a broader unity across history.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Why does Durant criticize the usual way of writing history?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"He argues that separating history into isolated specialties (political, economic, religious, and so on) does injustice to the unity of human life and prevents a synthetic view of a whole culture in each period.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What does the book plan propose before the narrative begins?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The series is structured into five independent parts, starting with “Our Oriental Heritage,” which covers civilization in Egypt and the Near East up to Alexander’s death, and in India, China, 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