George Santayana

Born as Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, on 16^th December, 1863 in Madrid, Spain, Santayana spent his early childhood in Avila. His mother, Josefina Borrás was the daughter of a Spanish official in the Philippines and married to George Sturgis, a Boston merchant. She had five children with him, out of which only three could survive the infancy. She lived in Boston until her husband’s death in 1857. In 1861, Josefina went to live in Madrid where she met Agustín Ruiz de Santayana who happened to be her old friend from Philippines. They married in 1862. George was the only child of the couple. His father was a colonial civil servant, painter, and minor intellectual. They lived in Madrid and Avila until 1869, when his mother returned to Boston with her early three children, leaving George with his father. In 1872, his father followed her to Boston. Later, he returned alone to Avila leaving George to his mother in Boston. George attended the Boston Latin School and later Harvard University where he studied under William James and Josiah Royce. He graduated from Harvard University and Phi Beta Kappa in 1886. The next two years, he spent studying philosophy in University of Berlin. On his return to Harvard, he wrote a thesis on Hermann Lotze and started teaching philosophy in 1889 after receiving his Ph.D. in philosophy. Some of his Harvard students who later became famous in their respective fields included T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Gertrude Stein, Walter Lippmann, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Harry Austryn Wolfson. Santayana always remained attached with Europe; often visiting his father in Spain in summers, even sometimes visited England.

 

In 1896, Santayana published his first philosophical work, “The Sense of Beauty”. In 1907, he was appointed a full Harvard professor. In 1912, when he was in Europe, his mother suddenly died and Santayana sent his resignation from there as he never returned to America. Santayana received many attractive offers from Harvard but he remained adamant on his decision. His resignation brought shock to his colleagues in the Harvard, as he was on the peak of his philosophical career. When World War I began, Santayana was in Oxford. Even though he was enjoying the friendship with of some of the eminent people in the country, the melancholic atmosphere of the war saddened him. It made him to live a secluded life. In 1916, Santayana published, “Egotism in German Philosophy” which showed his strong dedication to the Allied cause. He also wrote a number of essays based on the English character and countryside. When the war ended, Santayana was offered a lifetime membership in Corpus Christi College, Oxford which he politely declined. He then settled permanently in Rome in 1924. Santayana found the atmosphere congenial to him as he had always admired the Catholic and classic traditions. The books published in this period strengthened his reputation as a humanist critic and man of letters. His highly successful novel, “The Last Puritan” published in 1935, made him financially stable for the rest of his life. This novel was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. During this time, Santayana also financially assisted several writers including Bertrand Russell with whom he had discrepancies philosophically and politically. Santayana never married in his life and led a secluded life.

 

One of his main philosophical works was, “The Sense of Beauty” published in 1896. Apart from being his first philosophical work, it was perhaps the first major work on aesthetics written in the United States. In his heyday in Harvard, he published his utterly significant philosophical work, “The Life of Reason” (1905-06) in five volumes. Even though he was not a pragmatist like William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, Josiah Royce, or John Dewey, “The Life of Reason” was the first extended work of Pragmatism. In his later works, he developed his philosophical stature by achieving greater theoretical precision, depth and coherence. This was evident from his later philosophical works, “Scepticism and Animal Faith” (1923) and “The Realms of Being”, published in 4 volumes during the time period, 1927-40. Since Santayana had an extensive knowledge of evolutionary theory, he was committed to metaphysical naturalism, which actually was a philosophical view in which human cognition, cultural practices, and social institutions were expected to harmonize with the conditions present in their environment. In 1944, he published his autobiography, “Persons and Places”. In his autobiography, he described the developing movement of his thought from idealisms of boyhood to the intellectual materialism of a traveling student, and finally resting in the naturalistic outlook of the adult Santayana. Even though Santayana was an agnostic, he held a fairly benign view of religion contrasting to Bertrand Russell who advocated that religion was harmful. His religious views were sketched in his books “Reason in Religion”, “The Idea of Christ” in the Gospels, and “Interpretations of Poetry and Religion”.

 

Santayana is prominently remembered for his aphorisms, some of them even attained the status of cliché. He was more known for his excellent prose style in his philosophical works than the influence. Despite this, he influenced many people around him including Bertrand Russell and the eminent poet Wallace Stevens. The famous Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman credited him for being the central influence in the thesis of his famous 1959 book “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”.

 

Santayana died on 26^th September, 1952 few months before his 89^th birthday.

1863: Was born in Madrid, Spain.

1872: Went to Boston with his father.

1886: Graduated from Harvard University.

1889: Started teaching philosophy in Harvard after receiving his Ph.D.

1896: Published his first philosophical work, “The Sense of Beauty”.

1905-06: Published his philosophical work “The Life of Reason” in five volumes.

1907: Was appointed a full Harvard professor.

1912: His mother suddenly died and he resigned from Harvard.

1916: Published “Egotism in German Philosophy”

1923: Published “Scepticism and Animal Faith”.

1924: Settled permanently in Rome.

1935: Published his highly successful novel, “The Last Puritan” published.

1944: Published his autobiographical work, “Persons and Places”.

1952: He died at the age of 88.