This collection of essays by the prominent American philosopher George Santayana includes the famous "The Birth of Reason," "The Philosophy of Travel," "Bertrand Russell's Searchlight," "Appearance and Reality," and "On the False Steps of Philosophy." Also included are essays on Hellenism, Goethe's Faust, the politics of religion, friendship, and Tom Sawyer as a latterday Don Quixote.

The Birth of Reason and Other Essays

Politics & Social Sciences

Santayana, George

Philosophy

Columbia University Press

A collection of recent essays from the American philosopher and Chair of the Santayana Society. The subjects discussed include the philosophy of travel, the politics of religion, friendship, appearance and reality, and the false steps of philosophy.

Santayana argues that instinct and imagination are crucial to the emergence of reason from chaos.Santayana's Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to 1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging the natural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity for appreciating and cultivating the ideal. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuity running through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art, religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely.In this first book of the work, Santayana provides an account of how the human animal develops instinct, passion, and chaotic experience into rationality and ideal life. Inspired by Aristotle's De Anima, Darwin's evolutionary theory, and William James's The Principles of Psychology, Santayana contends that the requirements of action in a hazardous and uncertain environment are the sources of the development of mind. More specifically, instinct and imagination are crucial to the emergence of reason from chaos. Separating himself from the typical thought of the time by his recognition of the imagination, Santayana in this volume offers extensive critiques of various philosophies of mind, including those of Kant and the British empiricists.This Critical Edition, volume VII of The Works of George Santayana, includes a chronology, notes, bibliography, textual commentary, lists of variants, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The other four books of the volume include Reason in Society, Reason in Religion, Reason in Art, and Reason in Science.

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress (Works of George Santayana)

Arts & Photography

Mit Pr

The second of five books of one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism.
Santayana's Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to 1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging the natural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity for appreciating and cultivating the ideal. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuity running through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art, religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely.
In this second book, Santayana analyzes several distinctive forms of human association, from political and economic orders to forms of friendship, to determine what possibilities they provide for the life of reason. He considers, among other topics, love and the affinity for the ideal, the family, aristocracy and democracy, the constituents of genuinely free friendship (including that of husband and wife), patriotism, and the ideal society of kindred spirits.
This Critical Edition, volume VII of The Works of George Santayana, includes a chronology, notes, bibliography, textual commentary, lists of variants, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The other four books of the volume include Reason in Common Sense, Reason in Religion, Reason in Art, and Reason in Science.

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Society (Works of George Santayana)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

The third of five books in one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism.
Santayana's Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to 1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging the natural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity for appreciating and cultivating the ideal. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuity running through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art, religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely.
In this third book, Santayana offers a naturalistic interpretation of religion. He believes that religion is ignoble if regarded as a truthful depiction of real beings and events; but regarded as poetry, it might be the greatest source of wisdom. Santayana analyzes four characteristic religious concerns: piety, spirituality, charity, and immortality. He is at his most profound in his discussion of immortality, arguing for an ideal immortality that does not eradicate the fear of death but offers a way for mortal man to share in immortal things and live in a manner that will bestow on his successors the imprint of his soul.
This critical edition, volume VII of The Works of George Santayana, includes notes, textual commentary, lists of variants and emendations, bibliography, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The other four books of the volume include Reason in Common Sense, Reason in Society, Reason in Art, and Reason in Science.

The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, critical edition, Volume 7: Reason in Religion, Volume VII, Book Three (The Works of George Santayana)

The MIT Press

The fourth of five books in one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism.Santayana's Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to 1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging the natural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity for appreciating and cultivating the ideal. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuity running through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art, religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely.
In this fourth book, Santayana writes that art is perfectly native to human endeavor; it is the paradigm of all productive activity. Any worthwhile work of art creates an organic whole, and the whole appeals to many facets of one's nature; beauty brings these many feelings and powers into harmony. The benefits of a cultivated artistic taste contribute to the further growth and harmonization of the self in all its worthwhile activities. Art, or “the remodeling of nature by reason,” is, according to Santayana, the most generic form of rational activity; hence the life of reason falls within its domain. The conduct of the life of reason is the supreme art.
This critical edition, volume VII of The Works of George Santayana, includes notes, textual commentary, lists of variants and emendations, an index, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The other four books of the volume are Reason in Common Sense, Reason in Society, Reason in Religion, and Reason in Science.

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Art (Works of George Santayana)

The final book in Santayana's masterwork of philosophical naturalism argues that science crowns the life of reason.
Santayana's Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to 1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging the natural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity for appreciating and cultivating ideals. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuity running through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art, religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely.
In this fifth book, Santayana concludes his monumental work with a defense of science and a critique of major rivals to the cognitive ascendancy of science. Indeed, Santayana writes that science crowns the “whole life of Reason.” He finds two kinds of science, physics and dialectic; considers the role of history; examines the mechanisms of nature; defends scientific psychology; discusses pre-rational morality, rational ethics, and post-rational morality; and argues that science contains all trustworthy knowledge.
This Critical Edition, volume VII of The Works of George Santayana, includes notes, textual commentary, lists of variants and emendations, an index, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The other four books of the volume are Reason in Common Sense, Reason in Society, Reason in Religion, and Reason in Art.

The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, critical edition, Volume 7: Reason in Science, Volume VII, Book Five (The Works of George Santayana)

Santayana's argument for the unity of philosophy and poetry.
This concise and compelling volume―described by Santayana as a “piece of literary criticism, together with a first broad lesson in the history of philosophy”―introduces Santayana's thought in the rich context of a European poetic tradition that demonstrates his broad conception of philosophy. Rejecting both the Platonic opposition of philosophy and poetry and more recent attempts to reduce philosophy to science, Santayana argues that philosophy and poetry at their best are united in articulating a comprehensive vision of the world that permits honest contemplation of the universe. He considers the ideal visions of three artists: Lucretius's naturalism provides a total perspective on the physical world but renders experience monotonous; Dante's supernaturalism provides a total perspective on experience but subordinates nature to morality; Goethe's romanticism provides a dramatic perspective on nature and experience but lacks totality. Santayana sees each as the best in his own way, though none is best in all ways; and he speculates that the ideal poet would integrate the gifts and insights of all three, resulting in “rational art,” of which philosophical poetry is a prime example.
This critical edition, volume VIII of The Works of George Santayana, includes notes, textual commentary, lists of variants and emendations, an index, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars.

Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe, critical edition, Volume 8: Volume VIII (The Works of George Santayana)

A critical edition of a classic work by the renowned philosopher George Santayana evaluating key movements in American intellectual history. Winds of Doctrine presents six essays by the internationally recognized critic and philosopher George Santayana. The essays, edited by David E. Spiech, Martin A. Coleman, and Faedra Lazar Weiss, and introduced by Paul Forster, address the broad sweep of intellectual trends--or, as the title suggests, the ever-changing winds of thought--of the Spanish-born American thinker's time. The topics range from the secularization of American culture to the rise of religious modernism to the "genteel tradition" in American philosophy, the subject of Santayana's final lecture in America and perhaps his best known essay. The original Winds of Doctrine, published in 1913, was the first book published after Santayana's 1912 departure for Europe. Santayana had felt stifled at Harvard for some time, and his long-contemplated resignation from academia released him from previous obligations and allowed him a new freedom to think and write. Much later, Santayana remarked on the significance of that choice to step away: "In Winds of Doctrine and my subsequent books, a reader of my earlier writings may notice a certain change of climate.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. It was not my technical philosophy that was principally affected, but rather the meaning and status of philosophy for my inner man." An insightful document of American intellectual history, supplemented with annotations and rich textual commentary, Winds of Doctrine is a vital and engaging survey of the religious, political, philosophical, and literary trends of the twentieth century.

Winds of Doctrine, critical edition, Volume 9: Studies in Contemporary Opinion (The Works of George Santayana)

Philosopher, poet, critic of culture and literature, and best-selling novelist, George Santayana was unquestionably one of the great men of letters of our time. Persons and Places inaugurates a new definitive edition of Santayana's works that aims to come as close to his final intentions as possible. This first volume includes three books - Persons and Places, The Middle Span, and My Host the World - covering Santayana's youth, education, and teaching in Boston and Cambridge, his travels abroad, and ending shortly before his death in Rome in the early 1950s. Persons and Places is the first unexpurgated version of Santayana's autobiography. substantially different from any previously published versions of Santayana's work, it restores 718 marginal headings and significant passages that have been omitted in the past, including lengthy sections on Spinoza, John Russell, Lionel Johnson, and members of Santayana's American family. All of this material was a part of Santayana's manuscript and was deleted from earlier publications for a variety of reasons, including his wish that portions be published only after his death, publishers' sensitivity about potential lawsuits, printing and production convenience, and a general desire to "soften" some of Santayana's remarks. Physically, Persons and Places differs from other editions as well. Along with the restoration of marginal headings, which provide valuable information and often an indication of the author's tone, it includes Santayana's British spelling and punctuation as well as his idiosyncratic use of certain punctuation, and numerous photographs. Richard Lyon's Introduction is a significant contribution to American scholarship that not only explores Santayana's life and work but also enables us to understand the literary place of Persons and Places. The editorial apparatus includes a variants list, emendations list, notes to the text, discussions of adopted texts, and a section identifying persons mentioned in the autobiography. The Santayana edition, with over 20 volumes planned in all, was initiated by members of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. William G. Holzberger is Associate Professor of English at Bucknell University. Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. is Professor and Head, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, Texas A&amp;M University.

Persons and Places: Critical Edition

United States

Bradford Books

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Books by Santayana, George

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Santayana, George. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Birth of Reason and Other Essays

The Birth of Reason and Other Essays

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress (Works of George Santayana)

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Society (Works of George Santayana)

The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, critical edition, Volume 7: Reason in Religion, Volume VII, Book Three (The Works of George Santayana)

The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Art (Works of George Santayana)

The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress, critical edition, Volume 7: Reason in Science, Volume VII, Book Five (The Works of George Santayana)

Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe, critical edition, Volume 8: Volume VIII (The Works of George Santayana)

Winds of Doctrine, critical edition, Volume 9: Studies in Contemporary Opinion (The Works of George Santayana)

Persons and Places: Critical Edition