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Character And Opinion In The United States

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For those who have never read Santayana, this is as good a place to start as any. The book begins with the essay "A Brief History of my Opinions," which is as good an introduction to Santayana's thought as you are likely to find. After Santayana's once famous essay on the Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy, we come across two critical essays on William James and Josiah Royce. There are no two finer critical essays in philosophy. Santayana combines a symphathetic portrayal of the personalities (he knew both men, having studied under them at Harvard) with a devestating (though very polite) dissection of their specious views. Of James, he writes, "Philosophy to him was rather like a maze in which he happened to find himself wandering, and what he was looking for was a way out." Santayana's treats Royce's dreadful hegelianism with appropriate irony, pointing out the clash between Royce's practical good sense and his absurd philosophical views. But perhaps the best essay in the entire collection is the one entitled "The Genteel Tradition at Bay," where Santayana makes mincemeat of the so-called "new humanists." Santayana especially focuses his critical attention on their moral absolutism, which he demonstrates is self-contradictory and unfeasible. "Call it humanism or not, only a morality frankly relative to man's nature is worthy of man, being at once vital and rational, martial and generous," writes Santayana; "whereas absolutism smells of fustiness as well as of faggots." Santayana's philosophical reflections are not merely brilliant reasoned and beautifully written: they also gives us what is so conspicuously missing in the reflections of most other modern philosophers--namely, wisdom. His works cannot be recommended highly enough.