Author: David Spiech Page 69 of 283

To Paul Arthur Schilpp
Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, 6
Rome. March 23, 1950

My impression of Jaspers’ philosophy has been favourable, and I admire his sincerity and thoroughness; but all the present movements—Logical Positivism and Existentialism—and even Jaspers, seem to me rather attempts to seize some floating spar from the wreck than to build a fresh habitable log cabin on terra firma. Am I wrong?

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Eight, 1948-1952.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.
Location of manuscript: Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale IL.

To Charles Augustus Strong
Rome. March 22, 1925

I am at this moment struggling with Dewey’s “Experience and Nature” which I am to review for the Whited Sepulchre—a formidable task; but I don’t regret having undertaken it, because it seems that, after intense application and infinite patience in suspending judgement on opinions evidently absurd in form—according to my understanding of words—a certain order and naturalness begin to appear in his theory, which has many elements in it which I like extremely.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Three, 1921-1927.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002.
Location of manuscript: Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow NY.

To Mary Potter Bush
Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, 6
Rome. March 21, 1945

Memory has always been like the radio, it equalizes all distances.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Seven, 1941-1947.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006.
Location of manuscript: Butler Library, Columbia University, New York NY.

To Susan Sturgis de Sastre
Serrano 7
Madrid. March 20, 1912

My impressions of Madrid, so far, are somewhat mixed. The town is smaller and most of it meaner than I expected; on the other hand there are some very pretty vistas, and there will soon be more. Contrary to what usually happens, the newest things here are the best.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Two, 1910-1920.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
Location of manuscript: Alderman Library, University of Virginia at Charlottesville VA.

To Logan Pearsall Smith
Hotel Bristol
Rome. March 19, 1925

This morning I have received a letter from an old friend, a sort of disciple, who says: “I do not fail to see, but thoroughly enjoy, how very much you have done in the direction of adapting your philosophy to the needs of Teutons and cooperative man.” Is there any ground for this ambiguous compliment? I am not aware of any adaptation, except to the evidence of things as they continue to march past, and I am not aware that the character of the procession has much changed: but a man is not able to survey his own career fairly, because his perspectives change as he changes. Let it be as God wills.

A hint from B. B. set me reading Sorel, whom I find nutritious even if half- baked.

I am now reading, and expect to review, a ponderous tome by Dewey, the pragmatic philosopher of Columbia, who also wishes to rear the truth on the sands of industrialism. I am going to call him the “Latest Oracle of the Zeitgeist:” and I have a feeling that these are swan-songs, because industrialism may be short-lived.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Three, 1921-1927.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002.
Location of manuscript: Library of Congress, Washington D.C.