Durant conceived of philosophy as total perspective or seeing things sub specie totius (i.e., "from the perspective of the whole")—a phrase inspired by Spinoza's sub specie aeternitatis, roughly meaning "from the perspective of the eternal".

Will Durant: What is Civilization? Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation. Four elements constitute it: economic provision, political organization, moral traditions and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. It begins where chaos and insecurity end.

Will Durant and Ariel Durant (respectively, born Nov. 5, 1885, North Adams, Mass., U.S.—died Nov. 7, 1981, Los Angeles, Calif.; born May 10, 1898, Prosurov, Russia—died Oct. 25, 1981, Los Angeles) were American husband-and-wife writing collaborators whose Story of Civilization, 11 vol.

I should say history is the record of the activities of mankind and it has two sides — one is the crimes and absurdities and the other is the contributions to civilization, the lasting developments which enabled each generation to proceed with a larger heritage than the one before.