In articulating his philosophy, George Santayana drew on spiritual and philosophical traditions of Europe, Asia, and the United States. It is relatively easy to begin looking into the influence of his teachers William James and Josiah Royce since he corresponded with them, wrote essays about them, and remembered them in his autobiography. His discussions of Modern Philosophy also are sustained and obvious in chapters and essays. The Christian tradition lent concepts, vocabulary, and imagery to his thought; and the influence of ancient Greek culture is beyond question. Many readers, I suspect, would find it reasonable enough to assert that Santayana’s thought has some connection to Indian philosophy, yet mentions of it in his work—while not invisible—are not as prominent as references to other traditions. And so, I think it worth remarking Santayana’s comments on Indian philosophy to begin to get a more definite sense of its influence on his thinking.
Author: Martin Coleman Page 4 of 5
Daniel Moreno’s Santayana the Philosopher: Philosophy as a Form of Life (Bucknell University Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) is now available. The book is a translation by Charles Padrón of Moreno’s Santayana filósofo: La filosofía como forma de vida (Editorial Trotta, 2007) (favorably reviewed in Overheard in Seville: Bulletin of the George Santayana Society, No. 25, Fall 2007, 28–29).
The book considers Santayana first and foremost as a philosopher rather than a poet or literary figure and takes up the entirety of his work as a means to understanding his actual life as a philosopher. This life is marked by a disciplined disillusionment that makes possible the cultivation of spirituality. The book follows the example of Santayana’s work in building connections between reflective traditions in Europe and the United States.
Daniel Moreno also is the author of Miguel Servet teólogo iluminado (2011), editor of several books on Santayana, and translator into Spanish of Santayana’s Platonism and the Spiritual Life and Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies. He serves as an editor for Limbo: Boletín de estudios sobre Santayana (Limbo: International Journal About Santayana’s Thought).
Charles Padrón has published several articles on Santayana in books and journals including Overheard in Seville, and Limbo: Boletín de estudios sobre Santayana, for which he serves as a member of the editorial board.
Call For Papers:Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society—Royce Centennial Issue
In honor of the centennial of Josiah Royce’s death, the Josiah Royce Society and The Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society would like to announce a call for submissions for a special issue devoted to Royce to be published in 2016.
We welcome any high-quality scholarship on Royce’s thought, but are especially interested in historical and philosophical work on both under-studied influences on Royce and his own hidden influence on the twentieth century. Some possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Reexaminations of Royce’s studies in Germany and at Johns Hopkins, as well as his years teaching at Berkeley
- Royce’s interest in Asian philosophies
- Reconsideration of Royce’s engagement with other classical pragmatists
- Reassessments of papers in The Philosophical Review (25.3 1916) issue devoted to Royce
- Royce’s role in bringing attention to the work of Friedrich Nietzsche
- Royce’s engagement with Continental phenomenology, and comparisons of his work with the British Idealists
- Royce’s influence on his students, such as W.E.B. DuBois, C.I. Lewis., and George Santayana
- Royce’s concept of the “Beloved Community” and its adaption by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Royce’s work as an historian, novelist, and psychologist
Please submit manuscripts of no more than 7500 words to danieljamesbrunson@gmail.com by September 1st, 2015. All manuscripts should be in a Word-compatible format and anonymized, with a separate cover letter containing the paper’s title, author’s name and contact information, and an abstract of between 100 and 150 words.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which has generously supported the Santayana Edition since our beginning, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
As part of the celebration, the NEH invites you to email them at neh50@neh.gov and share how NEH grants have made a difference in your career, research, or community.
Since Herman Saatkamp received an NEH planning grant in 1977 to determine the feasibility of editing The Works of George Santayana, the NEH has given over $1.5 million to the Santayana Edition in outright and matching funds.
We are extremely grateful for this long-standing support from the NEH. And we are thankful as well for your continued interest and commitment, which has demonstrated so clearly the significance of our work. We hope you will join us in letting the NEH know what their support of the Santayana Edition has meant and continues to mean to friends of the humanities.
Below is the letter the director of the Santayana Edition sent to the NEH:
Arthur Danto (1924–2013) wrote of Santayana’s influence on his philosophical activity:
Published by: Martin Coleman
Published on: Feb. 11, 2015