George Santayana Biography and List of Works

Spanish-American philosopher, poet and humanist, student of William James. Santayana's principal concept is that all ideals have a natural basis. The only reality is matter itself and that all else arises from man's experience of, and response to, matter. Santayana's complex commitment to artistic beauty and reason is seen in such works as THE SENSE OF BEAUTY (1896) and REASON IN ART (1903), in which he states "art in general is a rehearsal of rational living..."

"Truly religious minds, while eager perhaps to extirpate every religion but their own, often rise above national jealousies; for spirituality is universal, whatever churches may be."
(from 'Intuitive Morality', 1905)

Santayana was born in Madrid. His mother was Scottish and his father Spanish. When Santayana was nine, his family moved to the United States, and settled in Boston. On arrival he did not speak English, though he made it his literary language. Santayana considered himself an observer in his new home country, indeed he never became an American citizen; he always kept his distance from the culture.

Santayana studied at Boston Latin School, and Harvard University, Cambridge (1882-86). In 1888 he was made Walker Fellow in Germany and England, and in 1889 he received his Ph.D. From 1896 to 1897 he studied at King's College, Cambridge.

From 1889 to 1912 Santayana taught at Harvard University. He was Hyde Lecturer at the Sorbonne, Paris, in 1905-06. Santayana's lectures on the philosophy of history formed the foundation of THE LIFE OF REASON (1905-06), an interpretation of the role of reason in the manifold activities of the human spirit. According to Santayana happiness is the goal of humankind and is best secured by the harmonization of our various interests by the use of reason. From this basis he asked, "In which of its adventures would the human race, reviewing its whole experience, acknowledge a progress and a gain?" Eventually focusing his survey on society, religion, art and science.

Santayana lived in America until he was 50 years old, and then began his life as a "wandering scholar." In 1912 he moved to Europe, living in England for three years, then in France, finally moving to Rome (1925-52). In 1923 he published SCEPTICISM AND ANIMAL FAITH, in which he formulated ideas of scepticism. According to Santayana, all rational processes are expressions of the animal compulsion to believe certain things, such as the existence of matter. We have an irresistible urge ('animal faith') to believe in the independence of the external world. Further, Santayana distinguishes between existence and being - the latter has four realms: essence, matter, truth and spirit. Matter is external to consciousness, and all existence is grounded in matter. Spirit and body are realizations of the same fact in incomparable realms of being.

In INTERPRETATIONS OF POETRY AND RELIGION (1900) Santayana stated that human imagination compensates for the limitations of understanding - art arises in response to our need for entertainment through our senses and imagination. "Mind does not come to repeat the world but to celebrate it." (from 'A General Confession', 1940)

During World War II Santayana remained in Mussolini's Italy, for which he was much criticized. In the remaining years of his life Satayana was tended by the English sisters of the Little Company of Mary. He died in Rome on September 26, 1952. Santayana remained a bachelor for his whole life. He was a homosexual and in private had a disdain for heterosexuality - he called it 'breeding'.

"To have imagination and taste, to love the best, to be carried by the contemplation of nature to a vivid faith in the ideal, all this is more, a great deal more, than any science can hope to be. The poets and philosophers who express this aesthetic experience and stimulate the same function in us by their example, do a greater service to mankind and deserve higher honour than the discoveries of historical truths."
(from The Sense of Beauty, 1896)

Santayana wrote poems, a best-selling novel THE LAST PURITAN (1935) and a great deal of literary criticism. Santayana's Platonism as well as materialist system of philosophy is set out in the comprehensive 4-volume REALMS OF BEING (1927-40). In his philosophy Santayana despised idealism and Germany, its spiritual home, but was devoted to Christianity, in particular Catholicism. He was generally sceptical about knowledge, and his political conservatism had a sceptical foundation. He felt that no system of thought is to be trusted, and wrote in the essay 'A General Confession' that 'mind does not come to repeat the world but celebrate it'.

The Last Puritan (1935) - Santayana was already seventy when the novel appeared. The story of the tragic fate of a sincere and intelligent man struggling against Boston gentility was written over twenty years. It arose from his dislike of Calvinism and Transcendentalism. The hero of the story is Oliver Alden, an heir to a wealthy New England family. His hedonistic drug addict-father, who wanders about the world in his yacht, abandons him and his mother. At the age of seventeen Oliver joins his father for a cruise and meets Jim Darnley, a young male paid companion. Oliver turns into a handsome and athletic critic of his decadent surroundings. His father commits suicide. After graduation Oliver visits the Darnleys in England and falls in love with Jim's sister Rose, who in turn falls in love with Mario, Oliver's European cousin. Oliver, who has become neurotic and febrile, follows Marios example and enlists in the army at the outbreak of World War I. He leaves for France and is killed.

For further reading: The Philosophy of George Santayana, ed. by P.A. Schilpp (1940); Vida y Pensamiento de Jorge Santayana by L. Farré (1953); Santayana and the Sense of Beauty by Willard E. Arnett (1955); Santayana: The Later Years by Daniel Cory (1963); The Philosophy of George Santayana, ed. by Paul Arthur Schillp (1971, orig. ed. 1940); Santayana, an Examination of His Philosophy by T. Sprigge (1974); George Santayana: A Biography by John McCormick (1987); Critical Essays on George Santayana, ed. by K. Price (1991); George Santayana by D. Carter (1992); Santayana by H.S. Levinson (1992)

SONNETS AND OTHER VERSES, (1894)