George Santayana's and William James's Conflicting Views on Transcendence

This book studies the philosophical work of George Santayana and the nature of his work's relationship with that of American philosopher William James. James is consistently dismissive of the 'all is vanity' state of mind, which arguably represents the opposite of America's activist, progressive ideals. The Spanish Santayana made the overcoming of vanity, or detachment central to his vital philosophy, which he had to gradually disentangle from the forces he found at work in America. This book, then, traces Santayana's intricate response to James, from its earliest expression in Interpretations, to his later Realms. Rather than attempt to arrive at a final interpretation of either one's philosophy, Antonio Rionda emphasizes what James refers to as the hotspot of each one's thinking: James's is best described as positivistic Existentialism, and Santayana's as phenomenological intuitionism. Santayana's post-Hegelian approach to doing philosophy allows for him to incorporate James's major insights into his own thinking. The problem of how psychology relates to philosophy led Santayana to posit literary psychology as an alternative to its scientific variety, which once disentangled from James's psychologism, represents the greatest virtue of James's thinking.

Studies the influence of William James's work on the philosophy of George Santayana Identifies Santayana's literary psychology as an alternative to James's scientific psychology Considers the influence of Santayana's life in Spain on his philosophical work

Auteur

Antonio Rionda has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Miami, USA, and is an independent scholar working broadly in American Philosophy.

Contenu

Chapter 1: The Historical Imagination in Santayana and James.- Chapter 2: The Psychology of Religions in Varieties. Chapter 3: Spirit and Self-Transcendence in Santayana's Philosophy.- Chapter 4: Santayana's Philosophical Conversion: Liberty in Exile. Chapter 5: Philosophy as a Form of Life in Santayana and James.- Chapter 6: Santayana's 'Grammar of the Spirit'.