William James Durant (November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American historian and philosopher, best known for his eleven-volume work, The Story of Civilization, which details the history of Eastern and Western civilizations. This monumental work was written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975.

Durant gained early fame with his book The Story of Philosophy (1926), considered a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy. He conceived philosophy as total perspective or seeing things sub specie totius—a concept inspired by Spinoza's sub specie aeternitatis, meaning "from the perspective of the eternal." His goal was to unify and humanize historical knowledge, which had grown voluminous and fragmented, and to apply it for contemporary use.

Due to their remarkable contributions, Will and Ariel Durant were jointly awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.