George Santayana

George Santayana[1†]

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known in English as George Santayana (1863–1952) was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Madrid but educated in the U.S., he is renowned for aphorisms like “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and for his definition of beauty as "pleasure objectified". Although an atheist, he valued the Spanish Catholic traditions of his upbringing. At 48, he left Harvard and spent the rest of his life in Europe, mainly in France and Italy, making significant contributions to aesthetics, speculative philosophy, and literary criticism[1†][2†].

Early Years and Education

George Santayana was born on December 16, 1863, in Madrid, Spain[1†]. He spent his early childhood in Ávila, Spain[1†]. His mother, Josefina Borrás, was the daughter of a Spanish official in the Philippines, and he was the only child of her second marriage[1†]. His father, Agustín Ruiz de Santayana, was a colonial civil servant, a painter, and a minor intellectual[1†].

In 1869, Josefina Borrás de Santayana returned to Boston with her three children from her first marriage, as she had promised her first husband to raise the children in the US[1†]. She left the six-year-old Jorge with his father in Spain[1†]. Jorge and his father followed her to Boston in 1872[1†].

Santayana studied at Harvard College and lived on campus[1†][3†]. His subjects included philosophy and literature[1†][3†]. He graduated summa cum laude in 1886[1†][3†], and then studied in Berlin for two years[1†][3†]. After Berlin, George Santayana went back to Harvard and wrote his dissertation on Hermann Lotze[1†][3†].

He joined the faculty of philosophy in 1889, forming with James and the idealist Josiah Royce a brilliant triumvirate of philosophers[1†][2†]. Yet his attachment to Europe was strong. He spent his summers in Spain with his father, visited England, and spent his sabbatical leaves abroad: at the University of Cambridge, in Italy and the East, and at the Sorbonne[2†].

Career Development and Achievements

George Santayana began his career as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University in the fall of 1889[4†]. He quickly became popular both as a teacher and a philosopher, being considered on par with his doctoral guide William James and idealist Josiah Royce[4†]. He influenced students who would go on to have very successful careers, including Van Wyck Brooks, T.S. Eliot, Felix Frankfurter, Robert Frost, Walter Lippman, and Gertrude Stein[4†][5†]. He wrote most of his published works during his 23-year tenure on the Harvard faculty[4†][5†].

Santayana’s attachment to Europe was strong. He spent his summers in Spain with his father, visited England, and spent his sabbatical leaves abroad: at the University of Cambridge, in Italy and the East, and at the Sorbonne[4†][2†]. At the age of 48, Santayana left his position at Harvard and returned to Europe permanently[4†][1†].

Santayana made important contributions to aesthetics, speculative philosophy, and literary criticism[4†][2†]. From the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth, he was a highly esteemed and widely read writer of philosophy, poetry, essays, memoirs, and even a best-selling novel, "The Last Puritan"[6†].

First Publication of His Main Works

George Santayana was a prolific writer, and his works spanned a wide range of disciplines. Here are some of his main works:

• The Sense of Beauty (1896): This was Santayana’s earliest major work on aesthetics[7†].
• The Life of Reason (1905-1906): Published in five volumes, this is perhaps Santayana’s best-known work. In it, he asserts that reason is a union of impulse and ideas[7†].
• The Realm of Matter (1930): This work was part of Santayana’s “Realms of Being” series[7†][8†].
• The Genteel Tradition at Bay (1931): Another significant work by Santayana[7†][8†].
• The Last Puritan (1936): Santayana also worked on this novel[7†][8†].

Santayana’s works were instrumental in revitalizing philosophy in America[7†][9†]. His writings, both published and unpublished, have been compiled in the series “The Works of George Santayana” by the MIT Press[7†][9†]. This series includes annotations, textual commentary, lists of variants and emendations, bibliographies, and other tools that are greatly useful to Santayana scholars[9†].

Analysis and Evaluation

George Santayana was a Spanish-born American philosopher who is regarded as one of the most important thinkers of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the most prominent champions of critical realism[5†]. His theoretical work focused on the greatest philosophical questions of human existence, exploring aesthetics, ethics, reality, politics, life and death, and human nature[5†]. His unique blend of an acute sense of literary style and logical objectivity bestowed a poetic humanism to modern American philosophy[5†].

Although Santayana was an atheist, he held sympathetic views towards religion, believing in the traditional morality of the Catholic church and seeing a kind of illogical poetry within the construct of faith[5†]. His work is considered to be of great consequence to the history of American philosophy, ranking with that of John Dewey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William James[5†].

Due to some inconsistencies in his writing, his espousal of unpopular beliefs, and the fact that he addressed several issues in various disciplines, Santayana has had his share of critics[5†]. In 1911, he published a controversial commentary on American life titled “The Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy,” in which he describes what he believes is the repressed state of American thought[5†]. In his 1923 treatise Scepticism and Animal Faith, Santayana asserts that human rational thought is an expression of an animalistic necessity to believe in certain things, such as the actuality of matter[5†]. In this work, Santayana investigates the birth and development of human reason, which he views as an evolutionary system within the scope of physical reality[5†].

Personal Life

George Santayana was born in Madrid, Spain, to parents of Spanish descent[1†][2†]. His mother, Josefina Borrás, was the daughter of a Spanish official in the Philippines, and he was the only child of her second marriage[1†]. Josefina Borrás’ first husband was George Sturgis, a Bostonian merchant with whom she had five children, two of whom died in infancy[1†]. She lived in Boston for a few years following her husband’s death in 1857[1†]. In 1861, she moved with her three surviving children to Madrid, where she encountered Agustín Ruiz de Santayana, an old friend from her years in the Philippines[1†]. They married in 1862[1†]. The family lived in Madrid and Ávila, and Jorge was born in Spain in 1863[1†].

In 1869, Josefina Borrás de Santayana returned to Boston with her three Sturgis children, because she had promised her first husband to raise the children in the US[1†]. She left the six-year-old Jorge with his father in Spain[1†]. Jorge and his father followed her to Boston in 1872[1†]. His father, finding neither Boston nor his wife’s attitude to his liking, soon returned alone to Ávila, and remained there the rest of his life[1†].

Santayana lived his first eight years in Spain, his next forty years in Boston, and his last forty years in Europe[1†][10†]. Accordingly, Santayana arranged his life in his autobiography, Persons and Places, in three parts: (1) “Background,” (2) “On Both Sides of the Atlantic,” and (3) “All on One Side”[10†].

Conclusion and Legacy

George Santayana, a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, made significant contributions to aesthetics, speculative philosophy, and literary criticism[2†]. His work, particularly “The Life of Reason”, published in five volumes from 1905 to 1906, is considered one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism[2†][11†]. It played a crucial role in revitalizing philosophy in America[2†][11†], and its value continues today[2†][11†].

Santayana was known for his generosity in his later years. He often helped other writers in need, such as Bertrand Russel, with whom he disagreed completely[2†][12†]. He also left behind a great number of letters, which were published together in 2000[2†][12†].

Santayana’s legacy illuminates the naturalist philosophy[2†][9†]. He was considered one of the most important minds in early 20th-century philosophy and was instrumental in revitalizing philosophy in America[2†][9†]. His aphorisms, such as “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, “Only the dead have seen the end of war”, and the definition of beauty as “pleasure objectified”, continue to resonate today[2†][1†].

Key Information

• Also Known As: Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás[1†][2†]
• Born: December 16, 1863, Madrid, Spain[1†][2†]
• Died: September 26, 1952, Rome, Italy[1†][2†]
• Nationality: Spanish[1†][2†]
• Education: Harvard University (AB, PhD), King’s College, Cambridge[1†]
• Occupation: Philosopher, essayist, poet, novelist[1†][2†]
• Notable Works: “The Sense of Beauty”, "Interpretations of Poetry and Religion"[1†][2†]
• Notable Achievements: Santayana was an influential 20th-century American thinker whose philosophy connected a rich diversity of historical perspectives, culminating in a unique and unrivaled form of materialism[1†][10†]. He made important contributions to aesthetics, speculative philosophy, and literary criticism[1†][2†].

References and Citations:

1. Wikipedia (English) - George Santayana [website] - link
2. Britannica - George Santayana: Spanish-American philosopher [website] - link
3. SunSigns - George Santayana Biography, Life, Interesting Facts [website] - link
4. The Famous People - George Santayana Biography [website] - link
5. Poetry Foundation - George Santayana [website] - link
6. Taylor and Francis - George Santayana [website] - link
7. Britannica Kids - George Santayana [website] - link
8. The MIT Press Bookstore - The Letters of George Santayana, Book Four, 1928-1932, Volume 5: The Works of George Santayana, Volume V [website] - link
9. MIT Press - The Works of George Santayana [website] - link
10. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and its Authors - Santayana, George [website] - link
11. Oxford Academic - The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Religion, Volume VII, Book Three - George Santayana: The Life of Reason [website] - link
12. Poem Analysis - George Santayana: The Life of a Poet and Philosopher [website] - link