Character and Opinion in the United States

by George Santayana

CHARACTER amp OPINION IN THE UNITED STATES WITH REMINISCENCES OF WILLIAM JAMES AND JOSIAH ROYCE AND ACADEMIC LIFE IN AMERICA BY GEORGE SANTAYANA LATE PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY PREFACE THE major part of this book is composed of lectures originally addressed to British audiences. I have added a good deal, but I make no apology, now that the whole may fall under American eyes, for preserving the tone and attitude of a detached observer. Not at all on the ground that " to see ourselves as others see us " would be to see ourselves truly on the contrary, I with SpintDza where he says that other people's idea of a man is apt to be a better expression of their nature than of his. I accept this principle in the present instance, and am willing it should be applied to the judgements contained in this book, in which the reader may see chiefly expressions of my own feelings and hints of my own opinions. Only an American and I am not one except by long association I can speak for the heart Perhaps I should add that I have not been in the United States since January 1912, My observations stretched, with some intervals, through the forty years preceding that date. of America. I try to understand it, as a family friend may who has a different temperament but it is only my own mind that I speak for at bottom, or wish to speak fof. Certainly my sentiments are of little importance compared with the volume and destiny of the things I discuss here : yet the critic and artist too have their rights, and to take as calm and as long a view as possible1 seems to be but another name for the love of truth. Moreover, I suspect that my feelings are secretly shared by many people in America, natives and foreigners, who may not have the courage or the occasion to Express them frankly. After all, it has been acquaintance with America and American philosophers that has chiefly contributed to clear and to settle my own mind. I have no axe to grind, only my thoughts to burnish, in the hope that some part of the truth of things may be reflected there and I am confident of not giving serious offence to the judicious, because they will feel that it is affection for the American people that makes me wish that what is best and most beautiful should not be absent from their lives. Civilisation is perhaps approaching one of those long winters that overtake it from time to time. A flood of barbarism from below may soon level all the fair works of our CJnristian ancestors, as another flood two thousand years ago levelled those of the ancients. Romantic Christendom picturesque, passionate, unhappy episode may be coming to an end. Such a catastrophe would be no reason for despair. Nothing lasts for ever but the elasticity of life is wonderful, and even if the world lost its memory it could not lose its youth. Under the deluge, and watered by it, seeds of all sorts would survive against the time to come, even if what might eventually spring from them, under the new circumstances, should wear a strange aspect.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Americana, History

244 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2006

About the author

Philosopher, poet, literary and cultural critic, George Santayana is a principal figure in Classical American Philosophy. His naturalism and emphasis on creative imagination were harbingers of important intellectual turns on both sides of the Atlantic. He was a naturalist before naturalism grew popular; he appreciated multiple perfections before multiculturalism became an issue; he thought of philosophy as literature before it became a theme in American and European scholarly circles; and he managed to naturalize Platonism, update Aristotle, fight off idealisms, and provide a striking and sensitive account of the spiritual life without being a religious believer. His Hispanic heritage, shaded by his sense of being an outsider in America, captures many qualities of American life missed by insiders, and presents views equal to Tocqueville in quality and importance. Beyond philosophy, only Emerson may match his literary production. As a public figure, he appeared on the front cover of Time (3 February 1936), and his autobiography (Persons and Places, 1944) and only novel (The Last Puritan, 1936) were the best-selling books in the United States as Book-of-the-Month Club selections. The novel was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Edmund Wilson ranked Persons and Places among the few first-rate autobiographies, comparing it favorably to Yeats's memoirs, The Education of Henry Adams, and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. Remarkably, Santayana achieved this stature in American thought without being an American citizen. He proudly retained his Spanish citizenship throughout his life. Yet, as he readily admitted, it is as an American that his philosophical and literary corpuses are to be judged. Using contemporary classifications, Santayana is the first and foremost Hispanic-American philosopher.

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Santayana argues American philosophy subordinates truth to moral correctness. It’s hard to disagree.

[Richard Subber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santayana wrote this book in 1920 after he had left the United States for good. He had taught in the philosophy department at Harvard from 1889 to 1912. He returned to Europe, taught at the Sorbonne in Paris, and finally settled in Italy for the remainder of his life.
Much of the book is based on a series of lectures he delivered to British audiences after leaving America. In his Preface he says “Only an American—and I am not one except by long association—can speak for the heart of America. I try to understand it, as a family friend may who has a different temperament.”
Santayana took his own sweet time to take a look at the people around him in the United States, and to make his own unhurried assessment of their characters and of their manifestations of human nature.
For example, he gave respectful recognition to “...the intellectual cripples and the moral hunchbacks...”—not otherwise explicitly defined—who, notwithstanding their possibly dubious claim to respect, may nevertheless be the beneficiaries of “heavenly influences.” You can make your own determination about the prospective positive impact of such influences. I think Santayana’s point was that we do not fully know the prior byways or the future trajectories of another person’s life.
Moreover, Santayana distinguishes the cripples/hunchbacks and their (presumptively enlightened) presumptive betters—“...the thick-skinned, the sane and the duly goggled...”
These goggled elites are admonished to be wary of their limitations in discerning the realities and the frequency and the potency of “heavenly influences.”
I guess I have, perhaps smugly, collaborated with Santayana in a more than marginally self-satisfied effort to say something like:
“Give the other fellow a break.”
Think about it for another minute.
Here endeth the lesson for today.
Read more of my book reviews at:
http://richardsubber.com/

[J. Alfred · Rating 2 out of 5]

Santayana is pretty obviously a smart dude, and he's got a good literary style, but in a book which contains reminiscence of other smart dudes (William James and Josiah Royce) he seems a little patronizing, a little too interested in dismissing other people's philosophies.
Some good, some not.

[Bruce Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite readable book about the United States. It should be more widely known than it is.

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book from the man responsible for the over-used quote: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Originating from a set of lectures given by George Santayana in Britain, the book was published in 1920 (15 years before he wrote "The Last Puritan"). It's a set of essays on the character, opinion and philosophy found in America in the late 19th and early 20th century. The chapters are entitled: The Moral Background, William James, Josiah Royce, The Academic Environment, English Liberty in America, Materialism and Idealism in American Life, and Later Speculations. In his preface, Santayana says that "Civilisation is perhaps approaching one of those long winters that overtake it from time to time." He goes on to describe and critique what we should fear and what we should cheer in the American character.

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book of essays is somewhat taxing but very good, very provocative.

I was struck by the similarities between Santayana's views and those of Max Weber & Isaiah Berlin.

I'll reread this again, after letting it aerate a while.

[Chris Timmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Santayana was a sophisticated thinker who wrote with an effective and authoritative style. His investigation of American philosophical pragmatism is searching, provocative, and an example of his intellectual rigor. A good read.