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Western Philosophy
20th century philosophy
George Santayana
Name
Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás
Birth December 16, 1863 (Madrid)
Death September 26, 1952 (Rome)
School/tradition Pragmatism, Naturalism
Notable ideas Animal Faith, natural aristocracy, Realms of Being
Influenced by Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, James, Emerson
Influenced Naturalism

George Santayana (December 16, 1863, Madrid – September 26, 1952, Rome), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. See also [[Analytic philosophy]] and [[Continental philosophy]] The 20th century brought with it upheavals that produced a series of conflicting developments within Philosophy Events 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion Year 1863 ( MDCCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. Philosophical naturalism has been described in various ways In its broadest and strongest sense naturalism is the metaphysical position that "nature is all there is The Realms of Being (1942 is the last major work by Spanish - American Philosopher George Santayana. Democritus ( Greek:) was a pre-Socratic Greek Materialist Philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Titus Lucretius Carus (ca 99 BC- ca 55 BC was a Roman Poet and Philosopher. Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century Philosophical naturalism has been described in various ways In its broadest and strongest sense naturalism is the metaphysical position that "nature is all there is Events 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion Year 1863 ( MDCCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language This article is an abbreviated list of Essayists - individuals notable for writing essays on various topics A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story

A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States, wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters, although, of his nearly 89 years, he spent only 39 in the U. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States An intellectual (from the adjective meaning "involving thought and reason" is a person who tries to use his or her Intelligence and analytical thinking, S. He is perhaps best known as an aphorist, and for the oft-misquoted remark, "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it," from Reason in Common Sense, the first volume of his The Life of Reason. The Life of Reason, subtitled "the Phases of Human Progress" is a book published in five volumes from 1905 to 1906 by Spanish -born American Philosopher

Contents

Biography

Originally Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruíz de Santayana y Borrás, he spent his early childhood in Ávila, Spain. This article is about the Spanish city For other uses see Avila Ávila de los Caballeros ( Latin: Abila and Óbila Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. His father, Agustín Ruíz de Santayana, was a colonial civil servant, painter, and minor intellectual. His mother, Josefina Borrás, was the daughter of a Spanish official in the Philippine Islands. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Jorge was the only child of his mother's second marriage. She had previously been the widow of George Sturgis, a Boston merchant by whom she had five children, two of whom died in infancy. She lived in Boston following her husband's death in 1857, but in 1861 went with her three surviving Sturgis children to live in Madrid. Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. There she again encountered Agustín Santayana, an old friend from her years in the Philippines and married him in 1862. The family lived in Madrid and Ávila until 1869 when Santayana's mother returned to Boston with her three Sturgis children, leaving Jorge, then five, with his father in Spain. Jorge and his father followed her in 1872, but his father, finding neither Boston nor his wife's attitude to his liking, soon returned alone to Ávila, where he remained for the rest of his life. Year 1872 ( MDCCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Jorge did not see him again until summer vacations while he was a student at Harvard. Thus from the time he was five, Jorge's parents lived apart. Sometime during this period Jorge became George, the English equivalent.

He attended Boston Latin School and Harvard University, studying under William James and Josiah Royce, whose colleague he subsequently became. The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts, making it the For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering Josiah Royce ( November 20, 1855, Grass Valley California. &ndash September 14, 1916, Cambridge Massachusetts) was an After graduating from Harvard in 1886, he studied for two years in Berlin, returning to Harvard to write a thesis on Rudolf Hermann Lotze and teach philosophy, thus becoming part of the Golden Age of the Harvard philosophy department. Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Rudolf Hermann Lotze ( 21 May, 1817 – 1 July, 1881) was a German Philosopher and Logician. Some of his Harvard students became famous in their own right, including T. S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, Walter Lippmann, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Harry Austryn Wolfson. Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26 1888 – January 4 1965 was a poet Dramatist, and Literary critic. Gertrude Stein ( February 3, 1874 &ndash July 27, 1946) was an American Writer who spent most of her life in France Wallace Stevens ( October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was a major American Modernist Poet. Walter Lippmann ( September 23, 1889 - December 14, 1974) was an influential American Writer, Journalist, and William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (duːˈbɔɪz ( February 23, 1868 August 27, 1963) was an American Civil rights activist Harry Austryn Wolfson ( November 2, 1887 – September 20, 1974) was a scholar philosopher From 1896 to 1897, he studied at King's College, Cambridge. King's College Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.

In 1912, his careful savings added to a legacy from his mother allowed him to resign his Harvard position and spend the rest of his life in Europe. Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting After some years in Ávila, Paris and Oxford, he began, after 1920, to winter in Rome, eventually living there year-round until his death in 1952. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. During his 40 years in Europe, he wrote 19 books and declined several prestigious academic positions. Many of his visitors and correspondents were Americans, including his assistant and eventual literary executor, Daniel Cory. In later life, Santayana was financially comfortable, in part because his 1935 novel, The Last Puritan, had become an unexpected best-seller. In turn, he assisted financially a number of writers including Bertrand Russell, with whom he was in fundamental disagreement, philosophically and politically. Bertrand Arthur William Russell 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970 was a British Philosopher, Historian Santayana never married. For a biography, see McCormick (1987).

Philosopher

Santayana's main philosophical work consists of The Sense of Beauty (1896), his first book-length monograph and perhaps the first major work on aesthetics written in the United States; The Life of Reason (5 volumes, 1905–6), the high point of his Harvard career; Skepticism and Animal Faith (1923); and The Realms of Being (4 vols. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called The Life of Reason, subtitled "the Phases of Human Progress" is a book published in five volumes from 1905 to 1906 by Spanish -born American Philosopher The Realms of Being (1942 is the last major work by Spanish - American Philosopher George Santayana. , 1927–40). Although Santayana is not a pragmatist in the mold of William James, Charles Peirce, Josiah Royce, or John Dewey, The Life of Reason arguably is the first extended treatment of pragmatism ever penned. For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher Josiah Royce ( November 20, 1855, Grass Valley California. &ndash September 14, 1916, Cambridge Massachusetts) was an John Dewey (October 20 1859 &ndash June 1 1952 was an American Philosopher, Psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim.

Like many of the classical pragmatists, and because he was also well-versed in evolutionary theory, Santayana was committed to a naturalist metaphysics, in which human cognition, cultural practices, and social institutions have evolved so as to harmonize with the conditions present in their environment. Philosophical naturalism has been described in various ways In its broadest and strongest sense naturalism is the metaphysical position that "nature is all there is Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Cognition is a concept used in different ways by different disciplines but is generally accepted to mean the process of awareness or thought Their value may then be adjudged by the extent to which they facilitate human happiness. The alternate title to The Life of Reason, "the Phases of Human Progress", is indicative of this metaphysical stance.

Santayana was an early adherent of epiphenomenalism, but also admired the classical materialism of Democritus and Lucretius (of the three authors on whom he wrote in Three Philosophical Poets, Santayana speaks most favorably of Lucretius). In Philosophy of mind, epiphenomenalism, also known as ' Type-E Dualism ' is a view according to which some or all mental states are mere Epiphenomena The Philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that can be truly proven to exist is Matter, and is considered a form of Physicalism. Democritus ( Greek:) was a pre-Socratic Greek Materialist Philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca Titus Lucretius Carus (ca 99 BC- ca 55 BC was a Roman Poet and Philosopher. He held Spinoza's writings in high regard, without subscribing to the latter's rationalism or pantheism. Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 Pantheism ( Greek: πάν ( 'pan') = all and θεός ( 'theos') = God it literally means " God is All Although an atheist, he described himself as an "aesthetic Catholic", and spent the last decade of his life at the Convent of the Blue Nuns on the Celian Hill in Rome, cared for by the sisters there. Atheism Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called

Man of letters

Santayana's one novel, The Last Puritan, is a Bildungsroman. The Last Puritan A Memoir in the Form of a Novel was written by the American philosopher George Santayana. A bildungsroman (ˈbɪldʊŋsroˌmaːn "novel of formation" is a Novelistic genre that arose during the German Enlightenment (and is regarded by some as His Persons and Places is an autobiography. These works also contain many of his tarter opinions and bons mots. He wrote books and essays on a wide range of subjects, including philosophy of a less technical sort, literary criticism, the history of ideas, politics, human nature, morals, the subtle influence of religion on culture and social psychology, all with considerable wit and humor. While his writings on technical philosophy can be difficult, his other writings are far more readable, and all of his books contain quotable passages. He wrote poems and a few plays, and left an ample correspondence, much of it published only since 2000.

In his temperament, judgments and prejudices, many of which do not sit well with present-day fashions, Santayana was very much the Castilian Platonist, cold, aristocratic and elitist, a curious blend of Mediterranean conservative (similar to Paul Valéry) and cultivated Anglo-Saxon, aloof and ironically detached. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry (French pɔl valeˈʁi October 30, 1871 – July 20, 1945) was a French Poet Russell Kirk discussed Santayana in his The Conservative Mind from Edmund Burke to T. S. Eliot. Russell Kirk ( 19 October 1918 &ndash 29 April[[ 994]] was an American Political theorist, Historian, Social Edmund Burke ( 12 January, 1729 9 July, 1797) was an Irish statesman author orator Political theorist, and Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26 1888 – January 4 1965 was a poet Dramatist, and Literary critic. Like Alexis de Tocqueville, Santayana observed American culture and character from a foreigner's point of view. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, he wrote philosophy in a literary way. Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century Even though he declined to become an American citizen and happily resided in fascist Italy for decades, he is usually considered an American writer by Americans. He himself admitted to being most comfortable, intellectually and esthetically, at Oxford.

His materialistic, skeptical philosophy was never in tune with the Spanish world of his time. In the post-Franco era he is gradually being recognized and translated. Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid Ezra Pound includes Santayana among the many cultural references in The Cantos, notably in Canto LXXXI and Canto XCV. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate Wikipedia talkFeatured lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below --> This is a list of people places events etc The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long incomplete Poem in 120 sections each of which is a Canto. Chuck Jones used Santayana's description of fanaticism as "redoubling your effort after you've forgotten your aim" to describe the cartoons starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones ( September 21, 1912 &ndash February 22, 2002) was an American Animator, [1]

Pop Culture References

George Santayana's death is mentioned in Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire" with the lyric "Santayana goodbye", the single most esoteric reference in the song. William Martin Joel (born May 9 1949 is an American Pianist and Singer-songwriter. " We Didn't Start the Fire " is a song by Billy Joel that makes reference to a catalog of headline events during his lifetime from March 1949 to 1989 when the

Works

The balance of this edition is published by the MIT Press.

Other works by Santayana include:

Works about Santayana include:

External links

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