Meetings of the George Santayana Society

The annual meeting of the George Santayana Society is held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division). The Society may also meet at the annual conference of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP), the APA Central or Pacific Division, and other venues.

Past Meetings

Online Meeting, Sunday 30 January 2022, 1:00 PM–2:30 PM (EST), 7:00 PM–8:30 PM (CET)

Speaker:
Richard M Rubin, “Santayana’s Missing Letter to Dewey”
Speaker:
Herman J Saatkamp Jr, “The Future of Santayana Scholarship

Online Meeting, Friday 29 January 2022, 1:00 PM–2:30 PM (EST), 7:00 PM–8:30 PM (CET)

Speaker:
Nayeli Riano, “The Psyche as Aesthetic Arbiter of Politics” (2020 Angus Kerr-Lawson Prize Winner)
Commentator: Jessica Wahman, Emory University

Speaker: David Dilworth SUNY Stony Brook, “The Epicurean Roots of Santayana’s Philosophy”

Online Meeting, Wednesday 13 May 2020, 7:00 PM–8:30 PM (CET), 6:00 PM–7:30 PM (UTC/GMT/UK), 1:00 PM–2:30 PM (EDT), 12:00 NOON–1:30 PM (CDT), 11:00 AM–12:30 PM (MDT), 10:00 AM–11:30 AM (PDT).

Speaker:
Hector Galván (Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi), “Harmony and Well-Being: Reflections on the Pandemic in Light of George Santayana’s Philosophy”
Chair:
Richard Rubin (George Santayana Society)

CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19 PREVENTION POLICIES: APA Pacific Division, 6:00 PM, Thursday 9 April 2020, Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, CA

Harmony & Well-Being: Santayana on the Good Life

Speakers:
Hector Galván (Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi), “Philosophy as a Path to Well-Being”
Diana Heney (Vanderbilt University), “Santayana in Conversation: Guiding Normative Notions in American Pragmatism”
Hasko von Kriegstein (Ryerson University), “Well-Being as Harmony”
Chair:
Richard M. Rubin (George Santayana Society)

APA Eastern Division, 11:15 AM, Saturday 11 January 2020, Philadelphia 201 Hotel, Philadelphia,PA

Speaker:
Katarzyna Kremplewska (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw), “Ideal Allegiances and Practical Wisdom: Elements of Santayana’s Political Philosophy”
Speaker:
Lydia Amir (Tufts University), “Santayana, Nietzsche, Montaigne”
Chair:
Richard M. Rubin (George Santayana Society)

 

APA Eastern Division, 1:30 PM, Wednesday 9 January 2019, Sheraton New York Times Square, New York, NY

Speakers:
Phillip L Beard, Auburn University, “Emerson, Pragmatism, and Santayana”
Commentator: Glenn Tiller, Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi
Brita Stoneman, Hillsdale College, “Forming Harmony: the Rhetoric of George Santayana”
Hector Galván, Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi, “Mindfulness and the Spiritual Life”
Chair:
Richard M Rubin, George Santayana Society

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, 8–10 March 2018, Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Union Station, Indianapolis, IN

Speakers:
Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., Institute for American Thought, IUPUI, “Santayana: Culture and Creativity”
Richard M. Rubin, “Character and Philosophic Creativity: the Example of Santayana”
Commentator: Glenn Tiller, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Internet Seminar on Spirituality, 19 February 2018, (click to watch a video of the meeting)

APA Eastern Division, 9:00 AM, Friday 5 January 2018, Savannah Convention Center, 1 International Dr, Savannah, GA

Speakers:
Richard K. Atkins, Boston College, “Santayana on Propositions”
Veronica Mueller, Fordham University, “Levels of Animal Life: George Santayana and a Purely Naturalistic Model of Supervenience”
Commentator: Glenn Tiller, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Chair: Richard M. Rubin

(This is the annual meeting of the George Santayana Society. A brief business meeting will follow the presentations and discussion.)

APA Central Division, 7:40 PM – 10:40 PM, Thursday 2 March 2017, Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center, Kansas City, MO

Author Meets Critics: Narrative Naturalism by Jessica Wahman
Participants:
Jessica Wahman, Emory University
Jennifer Hansen, Saint Lawrence University
Martin A. Coleman, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Richard M. Rubin, George Santayana Society

Round table discussion: George Santayana’s Platonism and the Spiritual Life
Leadoff participants:
Jessica Wahman, Emory University
Jennifer Hansen, Saint Lawrence University

Chair: Richard M. Rubin, George Santayana Society

APA Eastern Division, 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM, Friday, 6 January 2017, Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, Baltimore, MD

Speakers:
Diana Heney, Fordham University, “Metaethics for Mavericks: Santayana and Nietzsche on
False Idols and True Poetry”
Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., “Is Animal Faith the Death of Philosophy?”
John Lachs, Vanderbilt University

Chair: Matthew Caleb Flamm, Rockford University

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, George Santayana Society, 3 March 2016, 3:20 PM-5:00 PM, Benson Hotel, Portland, OR

Speakers:
Nancy Ogle, University of Maine, “Santayana and Voice”
Richard Rubin, Washington University in St. Louis, “Santayana and the Arts”
Martin Coleman, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, “Commentary on Richard Rubin’s ‘Santayana and the Arts'”

Chair: Glenn Tiller

APA Eastern Division, 5:15PM – 7:15 PM Thursday 7 January 2016, Washington Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C.

Speakers:
Jay Bregman, University of Maine, “Santayana and Neoplatonism”
Timothy Madigan, Saint John Fisher College, “Literary Philosophers: Irving Singer and George Santayana”
Daniel Pinkas, Geneva University of Art and Design, “Santayana’s Criticism of Bergson”

Chair: Matthew Caleb Flamm, Rockford University

APA Central Division, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Thursday 19 February 2015, Hilton St. Louis At The Ballpark, St. Louis, MO

Speakers:
Griffin Trotter, St. Louis University, “Is Healthcare Hazardous to Life? An American
Transcendentalist Perspective”
Michael Brodrick, Miami University, “Healthcare for Unique Individuals: What We Can Learn
from Santayana”

Chair: Richard Rubin

APA Eastern Division, 9:00 AM – 11: 00 AM, Monday 29 December 2014, Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, Philadelphia, PA,

Speakers:
Edward Lovely, “Considering George Santayana’s Anti-Modernism”
Katarzyna Kremplewska, Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, “The Authorship of Life: Narrative and Dramatic Strategies of Sustaining Self-Integrity in Santayana’s Thought”

Chair: Glenn Tiller

APA Central Division, 9:00–11:00 AM Thursday 27 February 2014, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL

Speakers:
William Gahan, Rockford University, “Santayana on Shakespeare”
Antonio Rionda, University of Miami, “Santayana’s Philosophic Exile”

Chair: Martin Coleman

Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, George Santayana Society, 7 March 2013, 2:00 PM–3:45 PM, Seaview Hotel and Golf Club, Stockton, NJ

Speakers:
Herman Saatkamp, The Richard Stockton College, “Santayana and Cosmopolitanism.”
Michael Brodrick, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, “John Lachs on Santayana”
Martin Coleman, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, “Morris Grossman on Santayana”
Richard Rubin, St. Louis, “McKeon, Lamm, Levi, and Angus Kerr—Lawson on Santayana”

Chair: Charlie Hobbs

23rd World Philosophy Congress, Athens, Greece, 4–10 August 2013.

APA Eastern Division, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, 29 December 2012, Mariott Atlanta Marquis, Atlanta, Georgia

Topic: “Philosophical Expression and  Literary Form”
Speakers:
John J. Stuhr, Emory University, “Philosophy, Literature, and Dogma:  Santayana and
the View from Somewhere.”
Vincent Colapietro, Pennsylvania State University, “Literary Forms, Heuristic Functions, and
Philosophical Fixations: Santayana’s Emancipatory Example.”
Jessica Wahman, Dickinson College, “Literary Psychology and Philosophical Method.”

Chair: Glenn Tiller

APA Eastern Division, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, 28 December 2011, Mariott Wardman Park, Washington, DC

Speakers:
Jude P. Dougherty, Catholic University of America, “The Amphibolous Character of Existence: Matter and its Negation in the Thought of George Santayana”
Diana Heney, University of Toronto, “Santayana on Value”

APA Eastern Division, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, 29 December 2010, Boston Marriott/Westin-Copley Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts

Speakers:
Krysztof Piortr Skowronski, Opole University (Poland), “Santayana and the Avant-garde”
Robert Dawidoff, Claremont Graduate University, “George Santayana: Genius of the Closet”

APA Eastern Division, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, 29 December 2009, Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York, New York

Speakers:
Brian Garrett, McMaster University, “Santayana on Teleology and Animism”
Richard Rubin, Washington University, “The John Searle/Daniel Dennett Debate Looked at in Light of the George Santayana/John Dewey Controversy”

APA Eastern Division, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, 29 December 2008, Marriott Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Speakers:
Douglas McDermid, Trent University, “Santayana and Scepticism”
Douglass Anderson, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, “Santayana and Spinoza: Living Philosophic Liberty”