Will Durant Quotes
Man became free when he recognized that he was subject to law.
Durant, Will. The Mansions of Philosophy: A Survey of Human Life and Destiny. Simon and Schuster, 1929.
This quotation is probably the beginning of the false charge that liberalism always rejects God and divine law. Most liberals, since the term has been used, have been religious and even those who were not did not see liberalism as necessarily antithetical towards religion. However, most doctrines of liberality had toleration and religious freedom as part of its foundation. To authoritarian religious leaders who did not believe in toleration (see {609037}) the very toleration of dissenters is tantamount to dissent. Today, for example, many liberals tolerate atheists and non Christian religions even though most are Christians themselves. To some narrow conservatives, this principle of toleration is therefore equivalent to being against religion. To others, modern liberal belief of separation of church and state is seen as anti religious.
William James Durant was a Russian born, historian, and philosopher. He became best known for his work “The Story of Civilization,” and acclaimed 11 volume series written over 50 years in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy (1926), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy". They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1968 and in 1977, the Durants were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
