Uploaded January 2009 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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This is an audio clip from a great book entitled "The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Great Philosophers of the Western World" by Will Durant, narrated by Grover Gardner. Since there's been a very interesting discussion going on recently on meaning in life started by Veritas48's video 'Why I Am Not An Atheist', I thought many would find this relevant. It presents the views of American philosopher and atheist George Santayana, with regards to meaning in life. Bertrand Russell was influenced by him, and I think you can recognize the roots of Russell's views on this subject, which ProfMTH discussed in his recent video response to Veritas48, 'Unyielding despair, you say?'

Photos from Life:

life.com/Life


I highly recommend this book, you can get it here:

amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-Philosophers/dp/0671739166

Info on George Santayana:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santayana
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/santayana/

Info on Will Durant:

willdurant.com/home.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Durant


Veritas48's initial video:

youtube.com/watch?v=bb6Rp7I0-J0

ProfMTH's response:

youtube.com/watch?v=zbGpm9Cwr2I