To Charles William Eliot
75 Monmouth Street
Brookline, Massachusetts. February 16, 1907
Dear Mr Eliot,
At a meeting of the Philosophical Division held this afternoon a question came up about a proposed course of mine which it was agreed should be submitted to you for decision.
Some time ago Professor Schofield asked me if I would offer some course in his department. I answered “Yes”, and suggested one on “Three philosophical poets—Lucretius Dante, and Goethe”—a half-course in which the conception of the world and the moral sentiment of the three should be described and compared. Professor Schofield accepted this idea. Now the Philosophical Department seems to be of opinion that this half-course should be given under their auspices, and not in the department of comparative literature. They add that if a part of my work is to lie in another department, a part of my salary too should be regarded as coming from that quarter, and a corresponding sum should be set free for the uses of the philosophical division.
To me it is a matter of indifference in which part of the pamphlet my proposed course figures, except that it is meant for the student of literature rather than for the technical philosopher, and that the requirement of a previous course in philosophy (usually made in offering our philosophical courses) would be out of place in this instance. Should I withdraw my offer made to Professor Schofield and should the proposed course be announced under the head of philosophy?
At our meeting this afternoon it was voted, as Professor Perry will doubtless report to you, that the Corporation be asked to appoint a well-known professor to fill Professor James’s place. I concur heartily in this desire, but if such an appointment were made “over my head” and previous to my own promotion, I should not regard my position as satisfactory.
Yours sincerely,
G Santayana
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book One, [1868]-1909. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
Location of manuscript: Harvard Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge MA.