Overheard in Seville.3.1985

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OVERHEARD IN SEVILLEBulletinof theSantayana Society

N O . 3FALL 1985

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Richard C. LyonPa u l G. Kuntz

Herman f . Saa tkamp, fr.Beth f Singer

George S a n ta ya n aDavid Wapinsky

Herman J. Sa atkamp, fr.

i19

222938

394265

Table of ContentsPersons and PlacesSantayana's Neo-PlatonismHermes the InterpreterBuchler and SantayanaAnnouncement of the1985 Annual MeetingUn MatrimonioBibliographic UpdateThe Santayana Edition

E d i t e d f o r t h e Sa n ta y a n a So c i e ty b y An g u s Ke r r - L a wso n , De p a r tm e n t o f Pu r eM a t h e m a t i c s , U n i v e r s i t y o f W a t e r l o o , W a t e r l o o , O n t a r i o , C a n a d a N 2 L 3 T 2 , a n db y He r m a n J . Sa a tk a m p , J r . , De p a r tm e n t o f Ph i lo so p h y , T e x a s A& M Un iv e r s i t y ,Co l l e g e S t a t i o n , T e x a s 7 7 8 4 3 - 4 2 3 7 . A l l c o m m u n ic a t i o n s sh o u ld b e se n t t o o n e o fth e ed i to rs . T h e bu l le t in wil l app ear annua l ly . I t i s fo rm at ted a nd compos ed fo rtypese t t ing wi th Water loo Scr ip t , and p r in ted by Graph ic Serv ices , Univers i ty o fW a te r lo o . I t i s p u b l i sh e d a n d d i s t r i b u t e d b y t h e De p a r tm e n t o f Ph i lo so p h y o fT e x a s A& M Un iv e r s i t y .


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An Introduction toSantayana'sPersons and PlacesReviewing in 1944 the first volume of George Santayana's autobiography,Persons and Places, Edmund Wilson noted that it belongs to a class whichincludes very few examples. "Few first-rate writers," he observed, "havedone stories of their lives which are among their major productions."Wilson could find precedents only in Yeats's memoirs and Th e Education o fHenry Adams - although a year later, in his review of the second volume,he would find another parallel in Proust's Remembrance of Things PastLike those books of reflective reminiscence, Santayana's autobiographysupplies a store of thought, feeling, and observation "that the author hadno t got out in his oth er wo rks: no t merely the facts of his caree r but asearching and subtle study of the meaning for him of his experience." 1Santayana's turn in his late years to the writing of personal historywas not sudden or surprising. H e ha d already, in 193 6, given fictionalform to many of his recollections in The Last Puritan - "A Memoir in theFo rm of a Novel." An d his philosophic principles seemed almost torequire that sooner or later he should make articulate the form andm eaning of his own story. H e had always insisted that und erstand ingmu st be , can only be historical und erstan ding . His five-volume Life ofReason (1905-06), the work which secured his place as a major force inthe philosophy of the new century, had been a survey of themiscellaneous career of western man - of the forms of his religious,societies, arts, and sciences - designed to mark within that history, and sorecover for present memory, some of the pitfalls and quandaries andabove all th e achieved harm onies discoverable in the past. (In ou r timepoliticians and historians have tirelessly seized on Santayana's words ofwarn ing to those who will not rem em be r the past: they are cond em nedto repe at it.) But a long mem ory, he thou gh t, is necessary not only tothose who ju dg e th e presen t or devise a future for man free of calamitoussurprises . It is necessary to any one who would discover his own deepe stna tur e. For Santayana self-definition requ ired - no t introspection andconfession, our modern ways to salvation - but retrospection, an attentiveregard for the recurrences, rhythms, and patterns of one's own lifehistory, a watchful observing of one's affinities and aversions over time.

In the writing of Persons and Places, as during his life, Santayanalook ed steadily bo th ways: tow ard the circum stances of his person alcareer and toward the recorded experience of western m an. T h e facts ofhis life - so little known and so often the subject of rumor and gossip

The following three excerpts are taken from the the Introduction to Persons and Places,Volume I of the complete works of George Santayana, to appear in 1986. The entire edition isto be published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.1 Edm und Wilson, "Santayana: A Boyhood Between Spain and Boston," New Yorkermagazine, Janu ary 8, 1944.


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2 O V E R H E A R D I N S E V IL L Eb e f o r e t h e b o o k ' s a p p e a r a n c e - are am ply he re : th e s to ry of h is ear lych i ldhood in Spa in and h i s r epea ted r e tu rns , o f h i s th i r ty yea r s a tHarvard , f i r s t as a s tudent , then as a luminary of i t s Golden Day, and ofh is la te r years as a so l i ta ry an d a w an de rer in E uro pe . Yet h is unusua lp r iva te h i s to ry de pen ds fo r it s m ea n in g on m an ' s h i s to ry . As we fo llowhis na r ra t ive , we com e to see tha t th e prec is ion wi th which he i s ab le toloca te h imsel f in time a n d define his vocation has as i ts necessarycond i t ion a wide - r ang ing h i s to r i ca l imag ina t ion . F rom the pas t he d r awsthe t e rms and ca tego r i e s and a l t e rna t ive ways of th ink ing and fee l ingabout the wor ld which make possib le h is naming of h is deepest a f f in i t ies .These fu s ings o f p r iva te and human h i s to ry and the p lay ing o f oneagainst the o ther , the easy leaps f rom presen t to past , f rom the p e r s o n a lt o t h e g e n e r a l a n d t h e cosmic a re the mo t ions o f a mind wh ich cou lddef ine i t se l f in no o ther way .

His app ren t i cesh ip to the pas t made o f Santayana a relentless cr i t ic oft h e p r e s e n t ; he was of ten a t odds with his t ime and p lace , and of tenr e b u k e d t h e m o d e r n w o r l d i n t h e name of hab i ts o f mind which het h o u g h t h a d b e e n t o o long f o r g o t t e n . Above a l l he found in anc ien tGreece and Rome the c l a r i ty and scope w h i c h h is o w n n a t u r e d e m a n d e d .He once sa id tha t o f a l l per iods in history he would have fe l t most a thome i n the age be tw een A lexa nde r an d Caesa r , and he was p leased bythe t i t l e bes towed on h im by a f r i end , "the an t iq ue sage . " Ye t he spokealso for th e Cath ol ic m ind . A n unbeliever, he sugges ted the mora l andpoet ic fo rce which Chr is t ian i ty might ye t have for an age of unbel ievers .And he some t imes though t o f h imse l f a s the l a s t o f the Vic to r i ans ,s p e a k i n g as h a d A r n o l d a n d Ruskin and Pa te r f o r the r ecove ry o f the pas tnot for i ts oVn sake but as i t may serve present sensibi l i ty and the ful lrange of the sp i r i t ' s needs - as a lso i t may serve t o remind us o f be t t e rt imes when r e l ig ions and ph i lo soph ie s and works of a r t were the v i ta lexp ress ions o f an ongo ing general l ife . Fr om h is s tud en t days unt i l h isdea th in Rome in 1 9 5 2 , he fe l t h imsel f to be a man born ou t o f season .I n r e c e n t y e a r s w e h a v e b e c o m e a w a r e , e n c o u n t e r i n g S a n t a y a n a ' sv o l u m i n o u s marginal ent r ies in the books of h is l ib rary , o f theun re le n t in g r e spons ive ene rg y he b ro ug h t to h i s r ead ing , and howex tens ive i t was . A m on g the ph i lo so phe r s whose tho ug h t mos t in f luencedh i s o w n o n e m i g h t n a m e P l a t o a n d A r i s t o t l e , Democritus a n d L u c r e t i u s ,Aqu inas , Le ibn iz , Spinoza , H u m e , H e g e l , Schopenhauer. I ci te thesenames in par t icu lar fo r the reason tha t var ious cr i t ics at var ious t imeshave sugges ted tha t San tayana ' s own philosophy may be found en t i r e inon e or m or e of th em . But if in ou r t ime h is gen ius is com ing to berecognized anew, i t i s a r ecogn i t ion o f h i s power to ass imi la te andapp rop r i a t e fo r h i s own r e f l ec t ion the work o f these and m a n y o t h e rth inke r s - no t on ly ph i lo sophe r s bu t h i s to r i ans , c r i t i c s , poe t s , andd ram a t i s t s . T he i r v iews a r e deployed wi th in the field of his ownd i spos ing in t e l l igence , i nde fa t igab le in i t s ques t f o r o rde r , cohe rence , anda f ina l un i ty in i t s comprehension of the wor ld .


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P E R S O N S A N D P L A C E Ssjt sfe :Je : fs %L

Santayana speaks in Persons and Places o f his recogni t ion [ in 1912] ,a f t e r arriving i n Eng land and d i scove r ing tha t h i s o ld London rooms onJe rmyn S t r ee t wou ld no longe r be ava i l ab le , t ha t "the p r o s p e c t b a c k w a r dh a d begun dec ided ly to gain on t h e p r o s p e c t forward." He wasap pr oa ch in g f if ty . Yet i t was no t to be un t i l severa l years la te r , wi th theend o f the d i s t r ac t ion and d i s t r e ss he f e l t du r ing the yea r s o f Wor ld WarI , t ha t the s t o r e d impressions of his past l i fe came to the forefront of histh i nk ing . In 1 920 , a f te r se t t l ing in R om e for the f i rs t o f wh at would b eh i s th i r ty win te r s the r e , he wro te to Mrs . F rede r i ck Wins low in Boston ofa r ecen t tu rn in his re f lec t ions . H e ha d be en th ink i ng , he sa id, o f h isdays a t the Boston Lat in School and of his years a t Harva rd a s anu n d e r g r a d u a t e . "It is wo nde r fu l how m uc h I l ive in th ing s long past . "A n d h e s p o k e of his "mystical" sense that all of his his tory would one daylie before h im in its i nde l ib l e t r u th : "My dear Mrs. Winslow, there i s at ime coming , o r a day beyond a l l t ime when every th ing wi l l return t o uswithout be ing dug up ; o r to pu t my myst ic ism d i f feren t ly , when we shallcease to be i r r a t iona l ly concen t r a t ed and abso rbed in t h e passingm o m e n t , a n d s h a l l s p r e a d ourselves ou t , jus t ly an d verac iously , over th ewhole of our l ives . I am o ld enough to be a lmos t do ing tha t a l r eady . " 2

We may conjec ture tha t i t was a t th is t ime tha t San tayana began torem in isc e in wr i t ing . A t any ra te we f ind h im in May 1924 r e p o r t i n g t oh i s g r ea t -nephew, George S tu rg i s , " I am wr i t ing some th ing wh ich I ca l l'Persons a n d Places ' in which I mean to give some account , h is to r ica l lyaccu ra te bu t se l ec t ive , o f some scenes and cha rac te r s tha t have r ema inedin my mem ory . " H e does no t conce ive i t a s an au tob iog raphy , he te ll sSturg is ; i t i s ra th er "a chr ono log y of my l ife ," "an au tho r i ta t i ved o c u m e n t " w h i c h m i g h t s e r v e a s a c o r r e c t i v e t o m e n d a c i o u s b i o g r a p h e r s . 3A n d y e t two months l a t e r , a t Co r t ina d 'Ampezzo in the I t a l i an Do lomi te s(where , he repor ts , he of ten fee ls on h is long walks "a wonder fu l e la t ion")h e a n n o u n c e s to Sturg is , " I have begun t o wr i t e an A u t o b i o g r a p h y . "4

S a n t a y a n a c o n t i n u e d t o w o r k on Persons and Places fo r another yea r ;t h e n , from t he su m m er o f 1925 un t i 1932 , a ll r e f e r en ce to it d r o p s fromh is c o r r e s p o n d e n c e . T h e writing of ano the r book had u su rped the p laceo f t h e a u t o b i o g r a p h y i n his a t t e n t i o n : The Last Puri tan. H e h a dcon temp la ted wr i t ing a nove l - although he had conceived i t as a nove lexclusively about college l i fe - in the ear ly 1890 ' s . Now, so many yearsla te r and (one conjec tures) as a d i rec t resu l t o f the qu ickening of memorya t t endan t on h i s au tob iog raph ica l wr i t ing , t he s to ry o f young Ol ive rAlden , h i s fictional he ro , ha d be gu n to acqu i r e fo rm . F ic t ion now tookprecedence over f ac t , ye t wi thou t aba temen t o f San tayana ' s r e t ro spec t ivem o o d . W h e t h e r at work on the nove l o r the au tob iog raphy he cou ld

2 Santayana to Mrs. Frederick Winslow, May 3, 1920, unpublished letter.3 Santayana to George Sturgis, May 13 , 1924, unpublished letter.4 Santayana to George Sturgis, July 29, 1924, in The Letters o f George S a n t a y a n a , p. 216.


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4 OV ERHEA RD IN SEVILLEcontinue to draw from his now vivid past.Santayana did not complete his novel until 1934, but in the meantimetwo circumstances impelled him back to the autobiographical notebooksin which he had begun in 1924 and '25 to record his impressions ofpersons and places. In the winter of 1932 the Boston Latin SchoolRegister asked him, as its first editor, for a contribution to its 50thanniversary issue. "I couldn't very well refuse," he wrote to his youngsecretary, Daniel Cory, "and have got interested in the thing for its ownsake, going far beyond what is required for the occasion." Also thatwinter his old classmate Boylston Beal had settled in Rome, and theirtalks as they strolled the Borghese gardens doubtless carried them back tothe Harvard Yard and the Berlin of the 1880's. Reporting these things toCory, Santayana observed, "I am getting very reminiscent."5 It is notsurprising to find that at the e nd of that m onth , Janu ary 1932, he hasresumed writing Persons a n d Places and is "writing with gusto."6But sustained attention to his autobiography was to be more shortlived in this period than in 1924-25. Invitations to speak on Spinoza atthe Hague and on Locke before the Royal Society of Literature deflectedhis interest once m ore. W hen he return ed to Rome in the fall of 1934after giving these, his last public lectures, he resumed the writing andrevision of his novel, afterwards turning to the task of completing thefinal two volumes of his masterwork, The Realms of Being. Not till 1940did he go back to that "pile of MS which I call *Persons and Places'."Early that year he began a regular morning regimen of reminiscences - anoccupation he found delightful, for he had lived to complete his m a g n u mopus, and he was able at last to turn from the exactions of theory to whathe laughingly called his "complete, rambling, endless, philosophical andsatirical stream of recollections."

Santayana completed Volume I in an astonishing spurt, writing twohundred pages of manuscript during "a very industrious holiday" atFiuggi in the summ er of 194 1. On Oc tober 12th he dispatched themanusc ript to Scribner's in New York. But W orld W ar II now intrudedinto the quiet rou tin e of the old philoso pher: he was to learn five dayslater that manuscripts and printed matter were no longer accepted in theItalian posts; his manuscript of Volume I was returned by the Rome postoffice. W ith the entry of the Un ited States into the war two monthslater, all his lines of communication with America would be broken - allbut one. Scribner's in New York, aware that a valuable literary propertywas now out of reach, ingeniously contrived with the help of the Irishpoet Padraic Colum and officials of the Vatican and the AmericanEmbassy in Madrid to have the manuscript sent in the Vatican diplomaticpouch to Spain, from whence the American Ambassador directed it tothe Un ited States. Th is quiet stratagem was carried out in the sum mer

5 Santayana to Daniel Cory, January 5, 1932, in Daniel Cory, S a n t a y a n a : The La t er Years(New York, 1963), p. 90 .6 Santayana to Geo rge Sturgis, Janua ry 2 8, 1932 , unpublished letter.


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PERSONS AND PLACES 5and fall of 1942. A little over a year later, in January 1944, Volume I ofPersons a n d Places was published in its American edition.Unsurprised and unperturbed by the war, Santayana, now settled inthe convent-clinic of the Little Company of Mary (an English order) inRome, went on re-living his life, continuing every day to set down hisrecollections. H e com pleted his autobiograp hy almost at the same timethat communications with the United States were re-opened in thesum me r of 194 4. T h e following Decem ber, after revising Volume II, hesent the manuscript by military post to New York through the courtesy ofan American soldier, one of the many who now sought him out in theVia Santo Stefano R oton do . It was published by Scribner's in the springof 1945.Santayana wished the publication of the third volume of hisautobiography to be postponed until after his death, in order to avoid anypossible embarrassment of persons still living who were discussed in itspages, or of their children. Althoug h he perm itted its first and lastchapters to be published in The At lant ic Monthly in its issues of December1948 and January 1949, My Host the World did not appear until 1953, ayear after his death.

* * * * *Writing in 1945 to his Scribner's editor, John Hall Wheelock,Santayana observed that his double heritage, his residence in andallegiance to Europe and America, had determined the division of hisautobiography into three parts.7 The first volume, Persons a n d Places (thetitle which Santayana wished to be used for an eventual one-volumeedition of the complete work) tells of his coming to the United States,and of his life in this country up to the time of his leaving for graduatestudy in Germ any. (For that purpo se he must tell us of his familybackground and early history in Spain, and since he wished to completehis portraits at one sitting, he draws from his subject's full life-history andfrom all the impressions which he himself had gathered in his ownlifetime. T h u s, for exa m ple, in a single early ch ap ter we learn of hisfath er's family origins , his subs eque nt history, and his de ath : abiography-in-little.) T h e second volume Santayana thou gh t might betitled "On Both Sides of the Atlantic," for it speaks of the Harvardprofessor and the summer traveler in Europe, a twenty-four year periodof divided residence and divided com m itments. T h e third volume, M yHost the World, is "all on one side": it tells of his Eu rop ean years following

his resignation from H arva rd. If, he wrote to W heelock, the last volumeincludes accounts of his metanoia in 1893 and of his year at King'sCollege, Cambridge, in 1896-97, that is because these events were crucialfor his decision to leave Am erica. Th ey were anticipations of "my7 Santayana to Joh n Hall Wheelock, February 28 , 1945, unpublished letter.


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6 O V E R H E A R D I N S E V I L L Ee a s t w a r d m i g r a t i o n , m a t e r i a l a n d m o r a l . " T h e y p o i n t e d h i m t o w a r dE u r o p e .

This i s the mise-en-scene o f t h e i n n e r a n d o u t e r d r a m a t o l d h e r e :Am er ica , Am er ic a / E u r op e , Eu rop e . I t i s, m or e spec if ica lly, t he story of at r ans -At l an t i c mind p ly ing i t s way between Avila , Spain on the one s ide ,a n d o n t h e o t h e r H a r v a r d a n d B o s t o n , U i S . A . S a n t a y a n a r e n o u n c e dn e i t h e r . H o w s h o u l d h e ? T h e y had f o r m e d h i m , p r o v i d e d t h e inevitableterms of his awareness , been the f a t ed con tex t s in which he mus t come toc learn ess . "My rea l nuc leus was th is com bin at io n , no t eas ily un i f ied ."8Desp i t e h i s many aversions t o Harva rd he r ecogn ized the f avo r ing wind i tp r o v i d e d for th e wo uld-be voyag er : i ts in te l lec tua l v i tal i ty an d s incer i ty ,its wealth of books, i t s f r iend l iness gave h i m " a m a x i m u m of air , of space,of sugg est ion ." So a lso d id Avila , but desp i te h is deep love of the"austere i n sp i r a t ion o f these moun ta in s , t hese battlemented city walls andthese da rk chu rches" he found the p lace " too o ld , sh runken , ba r r en andh i g h and dry to impose i t s l imi ta t ions on a t rave l l ing mind ." As a son hea c k n o w l e d g e d the bene f i cen t in f luence o f both fo s t e r pa r en t s , ye tr e c o g n i z e d a n d would n o t b e c o n s t r a i n e d by t h e i r provincia l i ty . " T h ee x t r e m e c o n t r a s t b e t w e e n the tw o centres a n d t h e t w o influences b e c a m eitself a bless ing: i t rendered f l ag ran t the l imi t a t ions and the con t ingencyo f b o t h . " 9

Sa ntay ana ' s f idel i ty to h is sources - w hate ver th e i r d i f fe rences an dcon t r a r i e t i e s , and however much he f e l t i nward ly d iv ided be tween Europea n d America - b r o u g h t h i s m a t u r e recognition that the civi l izat ion ofCh r i s t e nd om was h i s na t ive p lace . "My he r i t age was tha t o f Gr eece , o fR o m e a n c i e n t a n d m o d e r n , and of the literature and philosophy ofEurope . Ch r i s t i an h i s to ry and a r t con ta ined a l l my sp i r i tua l t r ad i t ions , myin te l l ec tua l and mora l l anguage . " 1 0 When h e began in the 1920's t ospend h is win ters in Rome i t was no t wi th the idea of se t t l i ng the repe r m an en t ly , bu t it is no t surprising tha t in t ime - as the c i rc le o f hist r ave l s d imin i shed , and , wi th the coming o f war , he was con f ineda l t o g e t h e r t o R o m e - Santayana should fee l tha t the eternal city had beenhis " fa ted cen t re o f g rav i ty and equi l ib r ium." 1 1 T h e r e , h e s a i d , h e c a m eto fee l nearer h is own past and the past and fu ture of h is world t han inany o t he r p l ace . I n t o Ro m e had come and ou t o f Ro m e had gone mos tof the winds of doct r ine and fa i th whose history a n d w o r t h h e h a d spenta l ifet ime studying. Omnium urbis e t orbis ecclesiarum, mater e t caput, theL a t e r a n inscription says , and Santayana made i t h is sa lu te a lso : "motherand head o f my mora l world."

H e fe l t a t ho m e the re ; i t was no t ho m e. T o se t t le a t last in R om e wasno t to come back at last to t h e C h u r c h , a p e n i t e n t a n d b e l ie v e r . T h o u g ha Chr is t ian c iv i l iza t ion had been the car r ie r o f the t rad i t ions and8 My Host the World, p . 3 6 .9 Persons and Places: The Backgroun d of My Li fe , p . 9 7 .10 My Host the World, p . 3 6 .11 Ibid., p . 5 6 .


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P E R S O N S AND P L A C E S 7l a n g u a g e w h i c h h a d e n g a g e d him - be l ie fs , p rac t ices , wr i t ings pre Ch r is t ia na n d p a g a n , C a t h o l i c , P r o t e s t a n t , a n d secular - he could no t in t h e e n dident i fy h ims el f whol ly wi th any on e of th em . O n the co nt ra ry , as th emora l c ro ss roads o f h i s wor ld , Rome was a constan t s t imulus to newforays in to the past and new d iscover ies o f human possib i l i ty . At the endo f h i s chap te r on "Trave l s" San tayana obse rves tha t he cou ld p r e se rve inR o m e b e t t e r t h a n a n y w h e r e else "my essen t i a l cha rac te r o f s t r ange r andt r ave l l e r , with t he ph i lo soph ic f r eedom tha t t h i s imp l i e s . " 1 2 T o t h e e n dhe demanded for h imsel f the "pr iv i lege of ub iqu i ty ," the indefeasib ler igh t o f the imag ina t ion to go on vis i t ing a l l ages and countr ies ,pa r t i c ipa t ing in a l l m inds and se lves , wh i l e r e fu s ing a commi tmen t o f thewho le hea r t o r the who le mind t o any .

I n refusing to accep t as h is own the doctrines and fa i ths o f t ruebel ievers o f every s tamp, had Santayana fa i led , a f te r a l l , to f ind h is p lace ,a be l ie f o f h is ow n, a self? N o: wi th in h is " rea lm s" he had found h is t ruelocus standi. With in th i s s t ruc tu re o f h i s own mak ing bu i l t ove r many yea r sh e h a d realized his min d and wor ld . T h e lumino us r eg i s t e r o f h is se t t ledconvic t ions (as i t had been a lso an ind ispensable means to the i r d iscovery) ,i t p rov ided a cen te r and su re van tage in a l l h i s t r ave l ings . More than tha t :i t en co u ra ge d and ju s t i f ied the m . Fo r he ha d com e to see howu n n e c e s s a r y , c o n s t r i c t i n g , a n d t y r a n n o u s bel ie f can be . Bel ieve we must -in th e ex te rn a l wor ld , fo r exam ple , o r in o t he r mind s - bu t he tho ug h tmos t men ove r subsc r ibed in the i r a r t i c l e s o f belief, p ledged to thesuppor t o f g r a tu i tous doc t r ines bo rn o f a sse r t iveness o r the need o fdogmat i c ce r t i t ude o r o f shee r imag ina t ive exube rance . By r e sc ind ing ou runnecessa ry commi tmen t s o f mind , we open ou r se lves to the new and thea l ien , an d look jus t ly , bec ause undo gm at ica l ly , a t th e w or ld ' s d ivers i ty .We migh t say o f San tayana ' s ma tu re ph i lo sophy tha t i n i t he had found ah om e an d co m e to res t , o r w i th equal jus t i ce we mig ht speak of it as h isf igh t ing f a i th . Bo th obse rva t ions , how ever , de f lec t a t t en t ion from tha tmost s t r ik ing charac ter i s t ic o f h is ph i losophy - i t s openness to r iva lpe r spec t ives , d ive r se in tu i t ions , a l t e rna t ive ways of f ee l ing . Amongph i lo soph ic hab i t a t ions with c la ims to comple teness , San tayana ' s i s un iquein the s i ze and number o f i t s w indows .

T h i s is t h e ph i lo sophy wh ich wou ld f ind i ts f u r the r , mo s t pe r so na lexp ress ion in Persons and Places. By the t ime San tayana came to se t downthese scenes from his past , he d id no t need to make up h is mind andcha rac te r a s he wen t a long . Hi s mind was fo rmed , h i s t a s t e s su re , h i sch ara c te r def in i te . As we go wi th h im on th is reco l lec t ive ram ble it isth is - the se l f -knowledge and se l f -possess ion of the gu ide - which m a k e sthe t r ip a ser ies o f i l luminat ions , and no s igh tseer ' s tour . He i s no tcon ce r ned to show us wh a t he knows . H e has no thes is to b r and i sh .Sa ntaya na w ould s imply have us see wha t he sees - m ark the l ines of abu i ld ing o r a cha rac te r , recover an event , no te a landscape in the i ressen t ia l qual i t ies . Beca use th is rea l i s t ' s in te n t is served as i t m ust be

12 Ibid., p. 56.


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8 OVER HEAR D IN SEVILLEserved by "an artist recomposing what he sees" (what Santayana thoughtevery traveler ideally should be), his recollections have form andme aning. He nce , like the artist traveler, the read er too "can carry awaythe picture and add it to a transmissible fund of wisdom, not as furthermiscellaneous experience but as a corrected view of the truth." 1 3Though the "antique sage" of this autobiography is a man ofimmovable principles, they are principles which justify and require aquick and moving imagination. T h e terra in of his ramble is not onlyastonishingly diverse; we are invited to see it in lights to which we are notaccustomed. T h e young Santayana who in his early books set out to sayin English "as many un-English things as possible" continues to speak hereas a European who would remember, and who would have us remember,many a forgotten way of thinking and feeling about the world. We mayfeel steadily rebuked in our provinciality, but we can hardly grudge himthe lesson.

Richard C. LyonHampshire Collegel s Ibid., p. 35.


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Categories and Orders ofSantayana's Christian Neo-Platonism

In the "Preface" to Scepticism and Animal Fai th Santayana writes that "TheRealms of Being of which I speak are not parts of a cosmos, nor onegreat cosmos together; they are only kinds or categories of things which Ifind conspicuously different and w orth distinguishing, at least in my ownthoughts."1 Does this mean that categories are as real as the cosmos orthat we make the categoreal distinctions in our thought? Scepticism a n dAnimal Fai th can be read in either an objectivist or a subjectivist way.The significance of order in Santayana's philosophy had not fullydeveloped by 1889, in Lotze's System o f Philosophy, though there is a clearrepudiation, following Lotze, of a single cosmic order as in Leibniz, a"best of all possible worlds." 2 The full significance comes with the processby which matter takes on form, the central problem of the production ofart in The Sense o f Beauty and Reason in Art} Order is central also inSantayana's moral and political philosophy, and the preliminary chapter"Chaos and Order" shows this.4 What is particularly helpful inunderstanding the relationship of the four categorical orders to eachother is his manuscript "The Order of Genesis and the Order ofDiscovery." How does Santayana's thinking about the four "realms" relateessence to existence to trut h a nd to spirit? T h e answer is made very clearin Scepticism and Animal Fai th and this shows that the initial problem oforder in Th e Life of Reason 5 was, to Santayana's satisfaction, solved inRealms of Being.6 I think badly of Dewey's rejection of the Realms to leave

This pap er was read to th e Santayana Society, New York, December 29, 1984.1 Scepticism and Animal Fai th (New York: Scribn ers, 1923), p.v. For convenience I shallabbreviate this Preface to Th e Realms o f B e i ng "SAF" and sometimes quote from the selectionsin Max H, Fisch, Classic American Philosophers (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1951),

p.268 (abbreviated in text "CAP"). Unless otherwise noted, books and manuscripts mentionedare by Santayana.2 Although Lotze speaks, in Santayana's words, "of the unity of the cosmic process and ofthe purpose of nature, . . . this unity will never constitute for him the value and justification ofwhat comes under it; rather it will be the condition and means of producing conscious andhappy life." Paul G. Kuntz, Ed., Lotze's System o f Philosopy (Bloomington: Indiana UniversityPress, 1971), p. 138. Santayana ascribes this idealistic optimism to a way of thought in Kant andHegel called "formalism," which Santayana defines as "a system that tends to reduce things tothe relations between them." Ibid.3 I believe we need to study the progression from Th e Sense o f Beauty to Reason in Art asmediation between matter and form, and therefore of prime metaphysical importance.4 "Chaos and Order," Ms., early draft for Dominations and Powers, 5 p., gift of Corliss

Lamont, Columbia University. The chapter "Chaos and Order" occurs as Book First, Chapter Iof Dominations and Powe rs. See Beth Judith Singer, "Order and Liberty in Human Life: A Studyof Santayana's Metaphysics of Society," Ph.D., Columbia University, 1967.5 The Li fe o f Reason begins "Whether Chaos or Order lay at the beginning of things," aquestion debated between Dialecticians who appeal to a "principle" prior to creation whileNaturalists trace creatures springing from chaos. R eason i n Common Sense (New York:Scribner's, 1922), p. 35. (This first volume will be abbreviated in the text as "RCS")


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10 O V E R H E A R D I N S E V I L L Eonly The Li fe o f Reason by wh ich to r e m e m b e r S a n t a y a n a ' s c o n t r i b u t i o n t om o r a l p h i l o s o p h y .7

To se t the s tage for Santayana on order and the ca tegor ies we wi l lr e s t a t e h is a p p r e h e n s i o n a n d a p p r o p r i a t i o n o f R o y c e a n d J a m e s , w h o s eph i lo soph ie s o f o rde r become typ ica l o f the "Dialect ic ians" a n d t h e"Natural is ts ' ' r e spec t ive ly . San tayana ' s c r i t i que r em a ins the bes t app roa cht o u n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e i r r e l a t i o n s h i p .T h e n w e c a n b e g i n t o appreciate i n San tayana the distinction b e t w e e nessence and ex is tence , f i r s t po in ted ou t to Santayana by Royce , a f te r the

publication of Interpretations o f Poetry and Rel igion . How Santayana came toa d d t o t h e r e a l m s , b e y o n d matter a n d essence, t hose o f truth a n d spirit isno t so c l ea r , bu t "Apologia P r o M e n t e S u a " p laces the r ea lms in t h e i r"proper logical" order.T h e r e is a journey of the mind , as St . Bonaventura called i t i t inerariummentis, from essence to matter, then to truth and to spirit. The realms ares tages of a metaphysica l adventure or p i lg r image , even , i n a r e l a t edmetapho r ca l l ed by San tayana a "hunt."

In these me tapho r s San tayana r evea l s h imse l f t o be ve ry much aCa tho l i c ph i lo sophe r work ing wi th a Neo-Platonic h ie r a r ch ia l scheme o fJac ob ' s Lad de r . N o t on ly a r e pe r son s on va r ious leve ls , a s says th e V ica rof Iffley in The Last Puritan, "hyl ic , " "psychic" , and "pneumat ic , " 8 b u t t ocompress the fou r r ea lms o r stages i n to th r ee , soc ie t i e s a r e p r e - r a t i o n a l ,r a t i o n a l , a n d p o s t -r a t i o n a l . T h e s e c o r r e s p o n d t o m a t t e r , e s s en c e a n dt ru th , and sp i r i t i n the me taphys ic s .

I f the four o rders as our ca tegor ies a re on ly what each of us f inds"wor th d i s t ingu i sh ing , " a r e they made by us and imposed upon r ea l i ty o rdo w e find t hem the re in expe r i enc ing r ea l i ty? Scepticism and Animal Fai thwhich a s The Li fe o f Reason can be read in e i ther way , needs to beconsidered as a d ia logu e . T h e ea r l i e r d i a logue i s be tw een the Natu ra l i s t(Empir ic is t ) an d th e Dia lec t ic ian ( Idea l is t ) , tha t is , be tw een Ja m es an dR o y c e , and t h i s is no t un r e l a t e d to the l a t e r d i a logue be tw een theSubjec t iv is t and the Objec t iv is t - except tha t San tayana has a new basisfo r the ca t ego r i e s , animal fa i th . Some ca tego r i e s may be nomina l o rsubjec t ive , bu t o ther ca tegor ies a re ob jec t ive or r ea l .My conclusion wi l l be tha t , a l though the Realms are f i r s t presented ina scep t ica l way , the conclusion of Realms o f Being uses the Ho ly Trinity as

Realms of Being, o n e - v o l u m e edition wi th a n e w I n t r o d u c t io n ( Ne w Yo r k : Sc r ib n e r ' s ,1942) . ( abbrev ia ted "RB")

7 "Dewey ' s Natura l i s t ic Metaphysics* h a s r e c e n t ly b e e n r e p u b l i sh e d in a n Ap p e n d ix toJohn De we y , The Later Works, 1 9 2 5 - 1 9 5 3 , Vo l . 3 : 1 9 2 7 - 1 9 2 8 . E d s : Jo An n Boysdston a n dPat r ic ia Baysinge r , In t rod uct ion by David Sidorsky (Ca rbon dale : So u th ern I ll ino is Univers i tyPr e ss , 1 9 8 4 ) , p p . 3 6 7 - 8 4 . T h i s v o lu m e c o n ta in s "Half-Hearted Na tu r a l i sm ," p p . 7 3 - 8 1 , an d"Phi losophy as a Fine Ar t , Rev iew of George Sa n ta y a n a ' s The R e a l o f Essence," p p . 2 8 7 - 9 3 . Iowe these va luab le re ferences to my co l league , Professor James S. Gouin lock .

8 Se e m y "T h e T r a g e d y o f O l iv e r O ld e n : Sa n t a y a n a ' s Last Puri tan: A P h e n o m e n o l o g i c a lStudy of Order and Chaos," Memorias de l XIII Congreso Internacional de Filosofla, Vol . 8 , p p .3 3 1 - 4 5 , M e x ic o : Un iv e r s id a d Na c io n a l Au to n o m ia d e M e x ic o , 1 9 6 4 .


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SANTAYANA'S NEO-PLATONISM 11a symbol of three "dimensions of reality." If the three realms are not"one grea t cosmos together" are they one great God together, not parts,fo r God has no parts, but thre e aspects toge ther a fourth? How can eachbe all, yet the all a fourth dimension?If one needs to define the term "order" which was carefully definedby James in Principles o f Psychology 9 and by Royce in his Principles ofLogic,10 it is to the opening chapter of The Li fe o f Reason that one couldturn.1 1 Although Santayana offers us seven meanings, among them is noparallel to serial order, which had deeply impressed James thepsychologist, and which Royce the logician had defined in a way parallelto Whitehead and Russell; that is, a relation that is "asymmetrical,transitive and connected."12 Santayana does not choose to be amathematical formalist. The common sense meanings may be listed as:

1. "any arrangement whatsoever" (RCS 36)2. "a specific arrangement favourable to a given form of life" (RCS3. a process of gradually shifting stages (RCS 36)4. "another and now static order called historic truth," absolute andimportant (RCS 37)5. "the efficacious and physical" causes (RCS 38)6. an order of settled categories by which one accounts forsomething by its origin (RCS 38-9)7. "the real universal order" (RCS 39)

"Order" obviously then has a wide enough range of meanings to coverall the varieties of being. T hu s a single term can be specified todesignate the relative status of a creature with its specific interest (Df. 2)or the absolute status of the cosmos itself (Df. 7). Order could bespecified as to essential symmetry or asymmetry, be two-termed symmetryrather than the three-termed asymmetry an d transitivity (Df. 1), and on ecould argue for Santayana's philosophic shrewdness in avoiding the over-mathematising so evident in Russell's philosophic use of order as thecentral category of philosophy generally.As Santayana demonstrated in his defiant imitation of analysis, "SomeMeanings of the Word 'Is'," he could have begun his study of the9 There is an unexplained gap between the consideration of order in Principles o fPsychology an d Varieties o f Religious Experience. In the first, Principles o f Psychology (New York:Henry Holt, 1890), Vol. I, p. 490, and Vol. II, p. 646, the principle of skipping intermediaryterms is "on the whole the broadest and deepest law of man's thought." In the second, such aprinciple is replaced by any subjective response to any arrangement whatsoever, depending onth e satisfaction of interest. See the M odern L ibrary Edition, 19 36, of Variet ies , ft. pp. 428-30.10 Josiah Royce "Order", James Hastings, Encyclopaedia o f Religion and Ethics, (Edinburgh:T. and T. Clark, 1917), Vol. IX, pp. 553-40, and Royce's Logical Essays, Ed. Daniel S. Robinson(Dubuque, Iowa: W m. C. Brown, 1951), pp 204-31.11 My "Santayana's Theory of Order," part of my American Philosophies o f Order, is basedon a study of the five-volume Li fe of Reason .12 My Al fred North Whitehead (Boston: Tw ayne's, 1984) and Bertrand Russel l (Boston:Twayne's, 1986) show the centrality of order to their philosophies.


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12 OVE RHE ARD IN SEVILLEcategories with the definitions of "order".13 Since our metaphysicianchose rather to tell the story of the emergence of his "system," whyshould we not follow his narration?Santayana always reminds us that he is a Catholic, and came as astrang er to live am ong Prote stants. Since he considers philosophy to bereligion naturalized, and he stresses above all his resentment of thePuritan arrogance of his teachers, we need to ask how exactly this helpsto shape the contrast between the categories of a Catholic in contrast tothose of a Protestant.How does the very Protestant Bertrand Russell order his world anddefine the cosmos? In Santayana's excellent *Philosophy of Mr. BertrandRussell,'' we find the Puritan moral habit of attaching his mind "to someessence or other."14 Russell takes comfort in mathematics, thus "layjmg]up his treasures in the mathematical heaven" (PBR 123). Russell inescape from the "dreary exile of the actual world" expresses his spirit.How, we may interrupt, does this differ from Santayana's radicaldistinction betwee n essence and existence? T h e Puritan is far m oredualistic, with less reconciliation of the sacramental Catholic. 15 T h ePuritan is confronting the realm of essences rather more morally thanaesthetically. T h e Puritan essences are those "that ought to exist, or atleast, if anything exists, it ough t to conform to them . W hat exists,however, is deaf to this moral emphasis in the eternal; nature exists forno reason; and, indeed, why should she have subordinated her ownarbitrariness to a good tha t is no less arbitrary? Th is good, however, issomehow good notwithstanding, so that there is an abysmal wrong in itsnot being obeye d. T h e w orld is, in principle, totally depraved; but as thegood is not a power, there is no one to redeem the world" (PBR 153).

W hat is implicit in this well-distanced critique? T h at the m od erncategoreal division is a deeper chasm than that of the Catholic worldwhich has not only the redeemer, God who has become man by taking onhuman flesh in the realm of matter, but a Christology founded on theclassical polarity of composite substance, matter and form.The Protestant spirit, if it ceases to fear "hell in the next world," isstill, in the heroic loneliness and rigidity of life, "sure to find it here."The Catholic Santayana, by contrast, retains bonds between levels ofbeing and can use, as in myth and symbol, the material to express thespiritual. Fo r Santayana to welcome religion as poetry, and use itsrhe toric , is there fore deeply and metaphysically shocking to Jam es an d

13 "Some Meanings of the Word 'Is'," in Justus Buchler and Benjamin Schwartz, Eds,,Obite r Scripta (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936), pp, 189-212, with commentaryA pol ogi a , o p. cit., p. 576.14 "Yjje philosophy of Mr. Bertrand Russell,* Winds of Doctr ine: Studies in ContemporaryOpinion (New York; Scribner's, 1913). (abbreviated *PBR*)

15 See Archibald Allen Bowman, "Physical and Spiritual in Modern Philosophy," in ASacramental Universe: A S t udy i n t he Metaphysics o f Experience (Prince ton: Princeto n UniversityPress, 1939), pp. 51-84, and my "Religion in the Life and Thought of George Santayana,"Ph.D., Harvard University, 1946.


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S A N T A Y A N A ' S NEO-PLATONISM 13R o y c e .

Befo re San tayana , t he young poe t and c r i t i c , had r ecogn ized h i s owncategor ies , Royce perce ived what was impl ic i t in Interpretation s of Poe tryand Rel igion . F o r "the mora l imag ina t ion" the re a r e we lcome f i c t ions ,no t be l i eved t rue to f ac t , and San tayana ' s f o rmer d i s se r t a t ion d i r ec to rR o y c e , "who ha d kep t a k ind ly bu t t r oub led w a tch ove r [h is ] you th , oncesa id th a t th e g is t o f [h is] ph i los oph y was the se para t ion of essence f romex i s t ence . Th i s was one o f those r a r e c r i t i c i sms tha t open one ' s eyes toone ' s own na tu re , . . . p e rhaps one o f those p rophec ie s tha t he lp to fu l f i lt hemse lves ; because i t c ame long be fo re [he ] began to make any spec ia luse of the word "essence ," o r to ana lyse the concept o f ex is tence ." 1 7 O fcourse Royce ' s Pro tes tan t be l ie f in Amer ica as the fu l f i lment o f the d iv ineo rde r in h i s to ry was quite d i f f e r en t f rom Russe l l' s e s t r a nge m en t o f th e" f r ee man" f rom i r r edeemab le ex i s t ence . Royce ' s Pu r i t an i sm d id no t d ropG od as cosmic imp era t ive fo r the hu m an sp i ri t . H ow does San tayanar e g a r d R o y c e ' s " G o d " ? 1 8 W he n Calv in ism is log ic ized , G od be com esun ive r sa l mind , "wha t " wr i t e s San tayana , " I shou ld ca l l t he t r u th , bu tpe r son i f i ed and tu rned in to a p sycho log ica l en t i ty . " Can the ca t ego ryt ru th med ia t e be tw een e ssence an d ex i s tence? Even tho ug h " the con t r a s tbe tw een e ssence an d ex i s t ence . . . is i nev i t ab le an d ax ioma t i c , " and th e reis a differ ent sen se of " is" use d for ea ch , Royce a t tempts log ica l ly to ge tf rom on e to the o t he r . But th is i s fa llac ious in th e log ic of S anta yana ' sca te go r ies . Log ic op era tes on ly hypo the t ica l ly and no t ex is ten t ia l ly , o r ashe pu t it "no t necessari ly appl icab le to na tur a l fac ts . " St i ll , Royc e wa nte dconnect ion and con t ro l o f the r ea lm o f e ssence ove r the r ea lm o f ma t t e r .San tayana he re f inds wha t the Pu r i t an a the i s t Russell sha res wi th theopt im is t ic the is t ic ra t ional i s t Roy ce . M ora l fe rvo r con t ro ls me taphysics ,which we may ca l l "metaphysica l mora l i sm," or the imposi t ion of thepa r t i a l p r e jud ices o f a mere c r ea tu re ly pa r t upon the who le cosmos .

San tayana ' s ph i lo sophy o f o r de r an d th e ca t ego r i e s is t o be a sunp re ju d ice d a s Sp inoza ' s . Royce is a hyp oc r i t e in r eb uk i ng San tayana ' sca tego rea l sepa ra t ion o f e ssence and ex i s t ence . The r ea l mo t ive i s t ha tRoy ce ne ed ed to g ive " log ic . .. coerc ive au tho r i ty over fac ts . " Ot her wi se"h is re l ig ious and po l i t ica l convic t ions could no t be enforced by purelog ic , but would have to be advanced on emp i r i ca l ev idence (no to r ious lynot ava i lab le) o r e lse posi ted wi th spor t ing r i sks by a despera te ac t o ff a i th . " (AP M S 498 ) Royce ' s me taphys ic s is t he n the exp ress ion of mora lfa i th tha t the goo d wo uld t r iu m ph , by wh ich he m ea nt tha t he is f ight ingon th e winn ing s ide . San tayan a is d r a w n to Sp inoza a s an opp on en t o fmora l i sm: San tayana wou ld accompl i sh fo r Ca tho l i c Chr i s t i an i ty wha tSp inoza had do ne fo r Jud a i sm . T h e ef fi cac ious an d non - supe r s t i t i ous

10 Interpre tat ions of Poetry and Rel igion (New Yo r k : Sc r ib n e r ' s , 1 9 00 a n d 1 9 2 2 ) .17 Se e p a g e 4 9 7 o f "Apologia P r o M e n t e S ua ," The P h i losop hy o f George S a n t a y a n a , ed . Pau lA r th u r Sc h i lp p ( E v a n s to n : No r th w e s t e r n Un iv e r s it y P r e ss , 1 9 4 0 ) , p p . 4 9 5 - 6 0 5 . ( a b b r e v i a te d" A P M S " ) .1 Se e Ch a p te r I V o f Character and Opinion in the United States: With Reminiscences of

Wil l iam James and Josiah Ro yce and Academic Life ( Ne w Yo r k : Sc r ib n e r ' s , 1 9 2 0) .


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14 OVERHEARD IN SEVILLEconnection between essence and existence is artistic crea tion. Th isconnection is encouraged by Catholic culture whereas it was discouragedby Puritan Protestantism.

Out of this fascinating debate of Santayana the Catholic with hisProte stant teache rs Jam es and Royce and his Protes tant friend Russellcomes a philosophy of four orders, essence, existence, truth and spirit.Santayana has a way of reading these realms as stages of a pilgrimage.The selections in Fisch's Classic American Philosophers make these stageseasier to follow (Essence, CAP 270-80, Matter , -287-91, Truth, 291-93,Spirit, 293-97).These distinctions in discourse and experience can be affirmed, claimsSantayana, at a time when "human faith is again in a state of dissolution."Empirical doubt, as in the case of Locke * dissolved knowledge ofsubstance, and if the master category of Aristole is gone what can theattributes qualify? The importance of Santayana's categories of the fourorders is that even if "substance" is indefinable, and in an empirical sensewe have no impression of it; it is indeed "something I know not what",still it is the object of animal faith.The Catholic philosopher may have lost his religious faith but he hasrega ined a philosophic faith. Scepticism can reduce the symbols of thecreed to fiction, bu t scepticism cannot touch animal faith. "This natu ralfaith opens to me various Realms of Being, having very different kinds ofreality, and a different status in respect to my knowledge of them ..."(CAP 297)."Realms* symbolizes by geographical metaphor, and specifically on ourmetaphysical journey we have crossed "the watershed of criticism'*. Wemay be completely sceptical, yet the basis of faith affirms the Realms ofBeing. "I have now reached the culminating point of my survey ofevidence, and the entanglements I have left behind me and the habitableregions I am looking for lie spread out before me like opposite valleys."(CAP 280; SAF 99) What realm was discovered in the valley ofscepticism? Altho ug h life may there be but a dream, yet still there areessences. But in the vital val ley of belief, in which we must act, we can doso by faith, because we have no comparable certainty. W hat of the otherthr ee realms, of m atte r, truth , spirit? T o jour ney the nce is characterizedas an adventure , a h u n t , and an ascent. There is a sequence of journeymetaphors that together constitute an allegory of increasing intensity andconfident discovery. When we pass beyond the watershed there is a newrhetoric.

"It is AS IF Substance SAID to K nowledge: My child the re is a gre atworld for THEE to conquer, but it is a vast, an ancient, and a recalcitrantwo rld. It yields won derful trea sure s to cou rag e, when cou rage is guidedby art and respects th e limits set to it by na tur e. I should not have beenso cruel as to give thee b irth, if the re had been nothing for thee tomaster; but having first prepared the field, I set in thy heart the LOVEO F ADVENTURE* (SAF 191, capitalization mine).The metaphor of HUNTING from The Rea lm of Ma t ter: "In the chase,


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SANTAYAN A'S NEO-PLATO NISM 15for those who fo l low it, the in tensi ty of exper ience i s no t l ike thein tensi ty ( l imi tless , i f you wil l) o f co nte m pla t ing p u re Bein g - im m utab le ,e q u a b l e , a n d c o m p l e t e . T h e h u n t e r a n d t h e h u n t e d b e l i e v e i n s o m e t h i n gam bu she d and imm ane n t : p r e sen t images a r e li t tl e t o the m bu t s igns fo rc o m i n g e v e n t s . T h i n g s a r e g e t t i n g t h i c k , a g e n t s a r e c o m i n g t o g e t h e r , o rd i s a p p e a r i n g , t h e y a r e killing and dy ing . T h e a ssu rance o f th i s so r t o fbe ing i s assurance of ex is tence . . . ."19

T h e me tap ho r o f A SC EN T is u sed in "O n Metaphys ica l P ro jec t ion , "which Danie l Cory ca l l s a "kind o f s u p p l e m e n t a r y I n t r o d u c t i o n t o Realmso f Being."20 " T h e o n t o l o g i c a l h i e r a r c h y " r u n s f r o m t h e b o t t o m , M A T T E Rt h r o u g h a p p e a r a n c e , o r "E S S E N C E S m a n i f e st e d t o s e n se a n d t o t h o u g h t "t o "the aspects which t h e u n i v e r s e w o u l d w e a r t o o m n i s c e n c e , " T R U T H ,all unmanifested Being , T H E REA LM O F ESSE NCE finally " thes imp l i c i ty o f PURE BEING.""As these las t phrases suggest , the in teres t o f th is on to logy i s no tmere ly log ica l , in tha t i t def ines the order o f a poss ib le wor ld , as wemigh t f r ame the ru l e s fo r a new ga m e. I t rep res en ts fa ith fu l ly th e s tagesof an ac tua l spiritual progress : I wi l l no t say the on ly pa th of p rogressop en to th e hu m an soul , beca use l ife i s e las t ic ; bu t cer ta in ly the pa thh i t h e r t o m o s t familiar and sac red . Life car r ies every sensi t ive an imal asfar up as appearance; in te l l igence ra ises h im, a t leas t in in ten t ion , to thelevel o f t ru th ; con templa t ion l i f t s h im to tha t o f essence , and ecs tasy in toth e hea r t o f pu re Bein g . But th is ascen t i s in te rna l to exp er ie nc e . .. I t isno t a material t r ans l a t ion f rom one pa r t o f the un ive r se to ano the r . . . "( O M P 119-20 - I would inser t "fai th" between "l ife" and " in te l l igence" ,and say "an imal faith comes to revea l in ac t ion the dynamic wor ld ca l ledm a t t e r . " )

Th i s i s a P la ton ic a rgumen t o f co r r e spondence be tween l eve l s o f sou land leve ls o f be ing . Either a pu re emp i r i c i sm o r a pu re ma te r i a l i sm i sl imi t ed to t h e apprehension of e i the r the r ea lm o f essence or the r ea lm o fm a t t e r . W h a t is d e m a n d e d psychologically o f a p e r s o n t o c o m p r e h e n dbo th e ssence and matter is pu re in t ro sp ec t ion in to wha t is g iven andapp rehens ion o f the inde f inab le subs tance con f ron ted in ac t ion by an ima lf a i th . I n add i t io n th e r e mu s t be deve loped the in t e l ligence to g r a spt r u t h s i n d e p e n d e n t o f either of the above , bu t dependen t fo r ex i s t ence ont h e m , and a lso contempla t ion and ecs tasy of the myst ic who grasps Beinga n d e v e n N o n - B e i n g .

H a s t h e a r g u m e n t a b o v e m a d e t o o m u c h u s e o f t h e m e t a p h o r s o fjo u rn ey , ad ve n tu re , hun t , a scen t? I be l i eve no t , because if t he r ea lms a r ed i s t ingu i shed because they a r e no t r educ ib le to one , t hen we mus t bo r rowte rms f rom one o f the r ea lms and app ly them to the t r ans i t ions be tween19 The R e a lm o f Mat t e r ( Ne w Yo r k : Sc r ib n e r ' s , 1 9 3 0 ), p p . 9 - 1 1 . GA P 2 8 9 - 2 9 0 th e n

r e c o u n t s t e n p r in c ip l e s o f t h e c o sm o s o f su b s t a n c e .20 The Idler and His Wo rks and Other Essays, E d . Da n ie l Co r y (Ne w Yo r k : Ge o r g e Braziller,

1957) , p . v i , "On Metaph ysica l Pro j ec t io n ," pp . 116-35 . Cory g ives no da te fo r th is p iecewh ic h b e g in s b y referring t o o r th o d o x H in d u sp e c u la t i o n s o n Br a h m a , a n d u se s a su b t i t l e : "bywhich Ex is tence is re f e r re d to the Non -Exis ten t as to i t s Gr oun d ." (abbrev ia te d "O MP ") .


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16 O V E R H E A R D I N S E V I L L Erea lm s . " Journe y" is spa t i a l, an d bo r ro w ed f rom the r ea lm of m at te r .But "ascent to the o n e , " as in P lot inus , s t resses not the t ravel but the goalb e y o n d b e i n g .

San tayana was obv ious ly a g rea t geograph ica l t r ave l l e r , bu t was he no ta l so a p i lg r im? T h e mos t pe r t in en t ev idenc e is h i s neg lec ted "T hePhi losophy o f Trave l ,* 2 1 which I must confess has inf luenced my wri t inga b o u t h o m o v i a t o r .2 2 San tayana ' s Ca tho l ic o rder ing o f the cosmos beg inswith p lants which are not as active as the animals in moving f rom place top lace . Anim als "owe the i r in te l l igence to the i r f ee t . N o wo nde r , then ,tha t a pe r ipa te t i c ph i losophy shou ld be the bes t . . . ." W e m i g h t p u t t h eco ntra s t in ter m s of th e w ate rshe d: we may si t an d dr ea m in th e val ley inwhich essences are d iscovered, but i f we walk in the valley in which wed iscover ex i s t ing mat te r and t ru th , we mus t th ink . "Thinking whi le you walk.. . keeps you a ler t: your thoughts , though fo l lowing some s ingle path through thelabyrinth, review real things in their real order; you are keen for d iscovery ,ready for novel t ies , laughing a t every l i t t le surpr ise , even i f i t i s a mishap;you a re ca re fu l to choose the r igh t road , and i f you take the wrong one ,you a re anx ious and ab le to co r rec t your e r ro r . . . * As novel objectsapp ear , "a tho usa nd hypo thes es ru n to m ee t the m . .. * (PT 9 ) .

T h e o l d w o r d b e f o r e " h i e r a r c h i a " was invented in a phi losophicalsense by the Pseudo-Dionys ius , was "g radus , " as in S t . Augus t ine .S a n t a y a n a g r a d e d kinds of t r ave l l e r s : be t t e r tha n migrants a n d immigrantsare explorers; better than conquerors are the d i s in te res ted adventurer andscienti f ic observer; b e t t e r t h a n t h e merchant is the tourist . But the k indSan tayana i s , is* a spectator. H e a l o n e h a s SAVING knowledge. "A man w h oknows the wor ld canno t cove t the wor ld ; and i f he were no t con ten t w i thhis lo t in i t (which af ter a l l has included that saving knowledge) he wouldbe showing l i t t le respect for a l l those a l ien perfect ions which he professest o a d m i r e " ( P T 1 6 ) . 2 3

A l t h o u g h w e c a n n o t d o m o r e than sugges t the P la ton ic h ie ra rch ia lc o r r e s p o n d e n c e between levels of soul and levels of being, we need a lsoto sugges t that in some very precise ways Santayana's theory of v i r tues is

21 "T h e Ph i lo so p h y o f T r a v e l , " The Bir th of Reason and Other Essays , Ed. Danie l Cory (NewYo r k : Co lu m b ia Un iv e r s i t y P r e ss , 1 9 6 8 ) , p p . 5-17. ( a b b r e v i a t e d "PT")

M y c o n t r ib u t io n s t o p h i lo so p h y o f t r a v e l a p p e a r i n I t inerar ium: The Idea of Journey, E d .L e o n a r d J . Bo w m a n ( Sa l z b u r g : I n s t i t u t fur An g l i s t i k Am e r ik a n i s t i k , Universit&t Sa lz b u r g ,1 9 8 3 ) , e sp e ci a ll y "M a n T h e W a y f a r e r " , p p . 2 1 6 - 3 4 . "Au g u s t in e : F r o m H o m o E r r o t o Ho m oVia to r , " a p p e a r s a l so i n Augustinian Studies , Vo l . 11 , 1 9 8 0 , p p . 7 9 - 8 9 .

22 M y "Fr o m th e An g e l t o t h e Wo r m : T h e H ie r a r c h i c a l S t r u c tu r e o f S t . Au g u s t in e ' sConfess ions ," f o r th c o m in g in Religious Studies . Many ar t ic les such as th is on h ie rarchy areg a t h e r e d t o g e t h e r i n The Grea t Chain of Being After Fif ty Years , E d s . M a r io n L e a th e r s a n d Pa u lGr im le y Ku n tz ( Be r n : Pe t e r L a n g , f o r th c o m in g ) .2 3 Cf. My Host the World, Persons and Places , Vo l . I l l ( Ne w Yo r k : Sc r ib n e r ' s , 1 9 53 ) , Ch .I l l , p p . 3 3 - 5 6 , a n d " T h e Co m in g Ph i lo so p h y , " i n The Idler a nd His W orks (Doc. Cit.) p . 192 .No te h o w in t e r e s t e d Sa n ta y a n a is i n t h e m e ta p h o r o f E .B . Ho l t , The Concept of Consciousness: Anav iga to r exp lor ing h is course a t n igh t wi th the he lp o f a search l igh t i l lumina tes a considerab leexpanse o f wave and c loud and o ther ob jec ts tha t l ie above the hor izon . The c ross sec t ions a ren e i th e r i n s id e o f t h e se a r c h l ig h t n o r d e p e n d e n t o n t h e se a r c h l ig h t f o r t h e i r "SUBST ANCE ORT H E I R BEING", ( p . 1 7 1 , e m p h a s i s m in e ) .


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SANTAYANA'S NEO-PLATONISM 17likewise hierarchical. Plotinus and other Neo-Platonists, holding to thedoctrine of four cardinal virtues, distinguish the level of development,and we have grades of tem pera nce , courage , justice and w isdom.24

One example must suffice, but it is the well-developed contrastbetween degrees and kinds of courage. "Blind courage is an animalvirtue indispensable in a world full of dangers and evils where a certaininsensibility and dash are requisite to skirt the precipice without vertigo.Such animal courage seems therefore beautiful rather than desperate orcruel, and being the lowest and most instinctive of virtues it is the onemost widely and sincerely adm ired. In the form of steadiness un de r risksrationally taken, and perseverance so long as there is a chance of success,courage is a true virtue; but it ceases to be one when the love of danger,a useful passion when danger is unavoidable, begins to lead men into evilswhich it was unnecessary to face. Bravado, provocativeness, and agambler's instinct, with a love of hitting hard ... , is a temper whichought already to be counted among the vices rather than the virtues ofman. To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality inthe captain, and a positive crime in the statesman." 25My argument about the relationship between The Li fe o f Reason andRealms of Being is that both use the principle of hierarchy to integratevarious philosophies. Each kind of mo rality is ap pro pria te to its level.Each kind of ontology is appropriate to its level. Just as the Neo-Platonist

could agree with Aristotle's categories and with Plato's categories, just asthe H indu Vedantist could agr ee with all the orth odo x systems, just asHegel attempted an integration of the whole history of thought, soSantayana's system of the four orders makes whole what are otherwisedisparate and incompatible parts of wisdom.My departure from the well-established interpretations of Santayana'ssystem is that these overemphasize the naturalism, that is, the realm ofmatter .2 6 The other way to put the same point, these establishedinterpretations have not taken seriously the appeal to "the Indians" as

represen tatives of universal huma n wisdom. I have in ano ther place triedto spell out why it is so important to note the initial mottoes of The Realmo f Spirit, quotations from Plotinus, from The Upanishads, from Spinoza2724 My contribution to Brian Vickers' collected volume Action a n d Contemplation considersthe grades of virtues (forthcoming).25 The Li fe of Rea son, or the Pha ses of Huma n Progress: Reason in Society (New York:Scr ibne r's, 1932), pp. 83-4. T h e passage is followed by a passage written from the perspectiveof the post-rational level. In the Augustinian jud gm en t, the virtues of the pre-rationa l, eventhe rational, are but "splendid vices'" (Ibid., p. 84).26 I have attempted three demonstrations of non-naturalism in Santayana: "Santayana th e

Mystic," "Santayana and Buddhism ,* and "Santayana and the Indians." A brief account is "TheThread of Salvation in this Labyrinth of Folly," in Philosophy i n t he Life o f a Nat i on , (N.Y.CUNY, 1976, pp. 140-44).27 In conjunction with Platonism a n d the Spiritual Life (New York: Scribn er's, 1927). I aminformed by R. Baine Harris that he has made a study of the correspondence between DeanInge and Sa ntayana. Th is is imp ortan t in showing his relation to the leading ChristianPlatonist and Plotinus scholar of our century. The R ea l m o f Spirit in RB., p. 548 (hereafter


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18 OVERHEARD IN SEVILLE"Spirit can never condemn or undermine natural life; this can be doneonly by some rival centre of life at the same biological level, tending tosteal away matter or energy from its ancestors or neighbours." "Spiritrequires no new matter or energy besides that of its organ, but onlyorder and harmony in the matter or energy at hand" (RS 552).

My emphasis on order is of course my personal central concern but itis a not inappropriate way to recognize what the different realms sharesuch that they can not only be distinguished but also integrated. TheRealm of Mat ter began with the scripture so frequently quoted by theWestern Medieval scholastics and the Renaissance founders of modernscience, such as Pascal, "Thou hast ordered all things in number andmeasure and weight."28If the physical order were the only real order, then the order ofessences, the order of t ruths, and the "order and harmony" sought by thespirit would be partia l and eccen tric, and as such subjective. But thesearch for objectivity of the categories as discovered in being rather thanimposed upon it, culminates in spirit. Spirit, says Santayana, has nocommitment but "to see things a s they a re 9 (RS 55 3, emphasis mine).SantayanaV philosophy forces us to rethink "objectivity* such thatthere is not merely objectivity on the level of matter, but also on thelevels of essence, tr ut h, and spirit. T h e clue is given to unrav el thismystery. T h e "presence of essences occasionally to imagination was veryaccurately called by the Scholastics their objective being, contrasted withthe intrinsic or logical being which they had in themselves, and with theformal embodiment which they might have in things; but in the utterconfusion of modern philosophy, substances being denied in one breathand imagination in the next, * the objective' has come to mean that whichis independent of intent or attention fixed upon it; which is preciselywhat th e objective can neve r be . It is indeed the intuition of essences intheir own category, when the things that may embody them are absent ornon-existent, that makes up the essence of spirit .... Spirit is the actualityof the unsubstantial."29As "being" has many senses, so also "objectivity", and "category," and"ord er". T h e vision provided by spirit in its reflection on the levels ofbe ing is systematically plura listic. San tayana is what I have called an"orde r pluralist." T h e finest expression of this position is in the"Conclusion" to Dominations an d Powe rs.^0Rational government limits what it imposes by law as required andleaves all else "to the special genius of each free society and each freeindividual. In suggesting such a division of m oral labour, ord e r whereabbreviated *RS*),

28 RM 182, from Wisdom o f S o l o m o n .29 Realm o f Essence in RB 129.80 Dominations and Powers: Reflections o n Liberty a n d Government, (New York: Scribn er's,1951); (abbreviated "DP"). 1 enjoyed the excellent commentary of Beth J. Singer, Th e RationalSociety: A Critical S t udy o f Santayana's Social Thought (Cleveland: T he Press of W estern ReserveUniversity, 1970).


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SANTAYANA'S NEO-PLATONISM 19the conditions are known, liberty where imagination makes its own laws,"Santayana is not expressing confidence that we can achieve such balanceand maintain it. "Reason is itself a method of imaginative thought. Itinsinuates itself with difficulty even into economic arts, by virtue of theregularity of natural processes, to which action has to adapt itself; but itlives happy and safe only in ideal constructions, mathematical or poetical"(D P 463).What is the difference between Santayana's synthesis of the manyorders and a metaphilosophy of different types of philosophies? BothSantayana and such metaphilosophies as those of S.C. Pepper's WorldHypotheses and Richard McKeon's four methods share tolerance ofalternative metaphors and methods. It is the hierarchical ordering of thedifferent orders as stages on a philosophic pilgrimage that is special toSantayana. Hierarchy is alien to Pepper31 and McKeon, who make ademocratic virtue of equality, while hierarchy is Santayana's chief superorder , and he does not conceal his aristocratic principle of inequality.32Santayana's hierarchical ordering is not as rigid as some traditionalsystems that identify the highest as that which is both the origin of theprocess of becoming and the first principle discovered by rationalreflection. Such a deductive system makes all that is an attribute of Godor Nature , and also the first axiomatic truth that it is that which is causeof itself. Santayana's thinking about stages distinguishes "The Order ofGenesis and the Order of Discovery."33 "First: In the order of genesiscomes essence since it spreads out the field of forms through whichexistence may travel and may pick up one form after another along itsspecial path. Existence in this order is second and truth third: for t ruthis the ideally complete description of the existing world, as it is, has been,and is to be. Finally spirit with all its discoveries comes last because thepsyche without which spirit could not arise or life is a tropeestablished in matter; that is to say, a truth concerning the order andcohesion of certain events in the flux of nature" (OGOD 2).34

As far as the origin of the world from ultimate one, this theory isnon-committal. But clearly the Neo-Platonic emanation from intelligence,to psyche, finally to matter , is denied. T h er e is no cosmic way downtoward matter as "almost nothing", as St. Augustine called matter. In thissense, the Neo-Platonic hierarchy, as Hegel's world by Marx, has beenstood on its head. And a card-carrying Plotinian would certainlydisapprove of Santayana's ontological Umwertung as much as anorthodox Christian must disavow Nietzsche,Yet there is also "the order of discovery." In this order "what comes81 Stephen C. Pepper, World Hypotheses (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1942).32 "Equality," MS, Columbia University Library.s s "The O r de r of Genesis and the Order of Discovery" MS, Columbia University Library(hereafter abbreviated "OGOD").34 Timothy L.S, Sprigge, S a n t a y a n a : An Examination of His Philosophy (London: Routledgeand Kegan Paul, 1974) is particularly helpful on "reality" of "a system of behaviouraldispositions" paralleling a "system of tropes." (p . 103)


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20 OVERHEARD IN SEVILLEfirst is m atter. Un dou btedly a pu re and free spirit, could such a spiritexist, would distinguish essence at the first dawn of consciousness andwould nev er distinguish any thin g else; ["any da tum of intuition ... is ipso

facto a pure essence"] ... ; the very nature and function of spirit is to distilp u re essence, simple or com plex, from th e flux of existence. Yet in ananim al life intuition is ha tch ed in a nest of pressing occasions: inte ntprecedes intuition. ..." I believe the account of spirit deeply troubled bydemands of the flesh, especially the demands of passions that fill "spiritwith a sense of urgency, of distress, or of triumph" is the kind of struggledepicted by St. Augustine in his Confess ions. Why is Platonism a necesarystep in tur nin g to God? Because spirit, in Santay ana's accou nt, "maycome to rest for a moment on the pure forms of things and on theiressential relations ..." (OGOD 3).If this is a Neo-Platonic "way up," as I am asserting it is, it is astruggling way up through the realm of matter towards something moresatisfying to spirit in the flesh. It corre spo nds to St. Au gustine 's version,and if the fragment had not broken off, it could have given the way backto the Father throu gh T ru th , the Son. Santayana, as Augustine, followsJohn's Gospel in identifying "Christ with the Logo s" and avoids "thesemblance of reduplicating the Godhead."35 The Logos is not only "theLight, the Way, the Truth" but also "Life and Love" that seem to fitbetter with the mediating office of Christ, as teacher and redeemer and

th e intim ate essence of his perso n (ICG 32). Does Santayan a identify willan d love as th e way to freedom? Yes, whe n th at will is directed to whatspirit truly loves (ICG 193 quotes Augustine, "Quid magis in voluntatequam ipsa voluntas?").The metaphysical importance of Christ is that this is a symbol ofm ediation. T h e realms that are otherwise separate are united when theW ord becomes flesh. T h er e is m ore to Santayana's use of the symbol ofChrist than "spirituality."36The Incarnation leads to that other great mystery of faith, the HolyTrinity . In th e "General Review" Santayana uses the F ather as symbol of"the realm of m atter" and th e Son as "the realm of essence." Althou ghthese are distinguished in the cosmos, in the G odhea d they are one . Thisdogma "which might seem unintelligible, becomes clear if we considerthat power could not possibly produce anything unless it borrowed someform from the realm of essence and imposed that form on itself and onits works." Pow er is no t pow er unless it prod uce s "som ething specific,something eternally distinct and recognizable in its character. The Son isthus an indispensable partner and vehicle for the life of the Father." (RS846)The Logos is "begotten not made n (RB 846). T h e Logos is "as muchGod as the F ather, since power ca nnot exist without form. But form also35 The Idea o f Christ i n t he Gospels or God i n Man (New York: Scribn er's, 1946), p .31(hereafter abbreviated "ICG").36 Sprigge's interpretation here seems to me only a partial truth. Op. CiL, p . 216.


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SANTAYANA'S NEO-PLATONISM 21cannot exist without substance ..." (RB 847).To these "incommensurable and equally original features of existence[I had rather say 'being']" are added the third dimension, Spirit (RS847-8). O n this the N icene Creed is relatively silent except that th eSpirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son and is the universal lordan d life-giver," and is equally divine (RS 849). Insofar as the Spiritspeaks by the p rop hets , is this also the Realm of Tr uth ? Th is is suggestedbecause spirit is known "by all voices inspired by power and by truth" (RS850). In this sense, th er e is, for metaphy sical purp ose s, a HolyQuaternity in the Holy Trinity.Has this conclusion erred in pressing too far the parallelism betweenthe Christian dogma and the language of ontology based on analysis?Santayan a wa rns against it (RS 853). I wish to avoid the question he re ofthe senses in which Santayana is a Christian philosopher.37 He iscertainly a Christian poet, at least sometimes.38 One important point withwhich to end is that the Realms of Being which are distinguished in ourworld are united in God. That Santayana had to end by borrowing fromtheology the symbol of three in one to express a truth that the fourrealms require one another signifies that his system was left unfinished, aproject yet to be com pleted. An d should not every metaphysician, as didW hiteh ead , say his system is incomplete? As an invitation to reflect itremains one of the great suggestive frameworks which we can use in ourpresent "metaphysical turn" of philosophy.

Paul G. KuntzEmory University

87 My article "Can Whitehead be Made a Christian Philosopher?" Process Studies , Vol. 12,No. 4, W inter 1982, pp. 232-42, shows the complexity of the problem.I have tried to show the importance of Christ as mediator and the doctrine of theIncarnation in "The Dualism of Paul Elmer More," Religious Studies , Vol. 16, 1980, pp. 389-44,especially the conclusion.38 Th e Oxford Book o f Christian Verse, Ed. Lord David Cecil (Oxford: T he C larendon Press,1940) has recently led to a new edition with a subtle consideration of what could be meant by"Christian poet." Perhaps the best title for an essay on Santayana would be "The ChristianPhilosophy and Christian Poetry of an Ex-Christian." Relevant to this is the analysis of T.S.Eliot that not even Russell succeeded in becoming truly "ex-Christian". See my BertrandRussel l , op. ciL, Ch. 8. Lord David writes in his Introduction of Blake: "It is doubtful whetherhe should appear in a book of Christian verse at all. If he was a Christian, he was certainly aher etic." T h e gospel of Santayana is equally surprising and also at odds "with the doctrines ofevery important branch of Christianity ... .* Then comes the defense: "But Blake, whether hewould or no , was soaked thro ug h with Christian thou gh t: Christian symbols are an essentialpa rt of his native language." Th is I find true of Santayana, and with regard to life as ajourney, I should add that he was "exquisitely responsive to certain phases of Christiansentim ent" (p.xxvi). T he editor writing in 1940 includes seven poems of Blake beginning with"T o Mercy, Pity, Peace, and L ove". T h e successor to Lord David, Donald Davie, in The NewOxford Book of Christ ian Verse (Oxford : Oxfo rd U niversity Press, 1981) limits Blake to"Jerusalem." I suspect that Santayana, whose sonnet on faith was once used by religiousliberals, is now less acceptable tha n h e used to be. Davie includes a long note on th e Neo-Or thod ox Karl Barth, who w ould have classed Santayana as a Gnostic and very non-Christian.


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H e r m e s the I n t e r p r e t e rI. Sa nta ya na : Pi lgrim or TravelerPaul Kuntz suggests that Santayana's ontology harbors a Platonichierarchical correspondence between the levels of soul and the levels ofbeing . Santayana is a "Catholic philosopher working with a Neo-Platonichierarchical scheme of Jacob's ladder" ("Categories and Orders" 10), andhis four realms (matter, essence, truth, and spirit) adumbrate stages of apilgrimage culmina ting in th e spiritual life. Th is interpre tation ofSantayana's mature philosophy runs counter to the usual naturalisticassessment which contains no categorical obligations or goals for eitherhum ans or for the universe. T h e naturalistic Santayana assumes, as far aspossible, a neutral moral stance and defends only contingent orders of thewo rld, no t hiera rchic al ones associated with ultim ate or final goals. IfPaul Kuntz is correct, scholars need to closely re-examine the works ofSantayana to capture a new, more traditional, and religious aspect of oneof the twentieth centuries best-known atheists.

Though I disagree with Kuntz's interpretation, I appreciate his insightinto Santayana's realms of being and their integral relationship tospiritual values, and my remarks should not be read as a critique ofKuntz's positiop but rather as an alternative approach to the philosophyof Santayana. W e are indeb ted to Kuntz who , by calling attention toSantayana's metaphors (pilgrimage, ascent, hunting, adventure), forcesexamination of significant aspects of Santayana's thought that have beenoverlooked . H e also highlights Santayana's respect for Indian philosophyand underscores the Catholic-Protestant tension that often is more thanin the shadows of Santayana's thought and friendships. This tension is notmerely a difference between conventional religions, but it is a conflictbetween forms of life: the Catholic tendency of celebrating life artisticallyin contrast to the Protestant tendency of valuing workmanlike moralities.Kun tz's discussion of th e P rotesta nt herita ge of Jam es, Royce, and Russelldecidedly contributes to our understanding of Santayana and hissometimes strained relationships with his teach ers, colleagues, and friends.

Kuntz's understanding of Santayana as a philosopher working within aNeo-Platonic hierarchical scheme is supported by textual evidence.Santayana does use Neo-Platonic metaphors, and he characterizes thespiritual life as the culm ination of hum an ex istence. But this evidence, Ibelieve, should be understood in the context of (1) the development ofSantayana's materialism or naturalism, (2) his application of ontology inhistorical analyses, and (3) his view of himself as a traveler, not a pilgrim.Within this context, Santayana's decided view is naturalistic (ormaterialistic), and whatever ties to Platonism exist, they are morebiographical than an endorsement of a Neo-Platonic hierarchy or aJacob's ladder pilgrimage.


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HERMES TH E INTERPR ETER 23I I . The Development o f Sa n taya na 's Mater ia li smA. uAt the Church Door"In the soon to be published unexpurgated edition of hisautobiography, Santayana indicates his intellectual development is markedby three steps: (1) materialism, and the insights that (2) the forms of thegood are diverge nt a nd tha t (3) each form is definite and final (Personsa n d Places 169,17c);1 Santayana's "wavering between alternative views ofthe world" ended with his materialism, while recognizing that the formsof the good are divergent enabled him to "overcome moral and idealprovincialism." Realizing that each form of the good is definite and finalled to the ancient realization that "integrity or self-definition is andremains first and fundamental in morals" (170). These three insightsmark the mature thought of Santayana and are not consistent with a Neo-Platonic hierarch y or spiritual pilgrimage. T h e re canno t be a uniformhierarchy if there are diverse forms of the good, each complete in itselfand not convergent with other goods, and, therefore, many distinct pathsto integrity.

Neo-Platonism and religious perspectives did play eloquent roles in theearly development of Santayana's thought during a period he describes asbeing "at the churc h doo r" (169). His intellectual materialism wasestablished by the time he was a "traveling student seeing the world inGerm any , England, and Spain ... ." (169); bu t it seems app aren t that th efull statement and development of his materialism did not occur untilmuch later in his life. It was certainly in place by the tim e of Scepticismand Animal Fai th (1923) but not fully so at the time of The Li fe o f Reason(1905). Prior to the development of Santayana's materialism, he was "atthe church door" and clearly more open to religious commitments commitments he would later call projections from a material base.B. Materialism and Projection

Santayana's materialism led to his rejection of Platonism andChristianity, but, since he views them as projections from genuineinterests, his appreciation for the richness and quality of life theyrep rese nt is no t lessened. In fact, Santayana's four on tological realms andhis view of the spiritual life clearly result from his rejection andappreciation of these and other views, but some of his most devotedreaders were puzzled by Santayana's Platonic-like description of hisontology as well as his endorsement of th e spiritua l life. Incharacteristically self-critical fashion, Santayana knew that his ownexplanations were the source of some of the puzzlemen t. Astonishingly,his efforts to clarify his philosophy resulted in no fewer than four

1 These three steps are described in marginal headings in Persons and Places. All marginalheadings were omitted in current published versions of Santayana's autobiography, but theywill be included in the critical edition to be published by M IT Press in 1986. Th ese pagereferences are to the new critical edition.


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24 OVER HEAR D IN SEVILLEintroductions to the realms of being: (1) Scepticism and Animal Fai th, (2)the Preface to the four-volume Realms of Being, (3) the "Apologia", andfinally (4) the Introduction to the one-volume edition of Realms of Being.The first three are subjected to critical scrutiny in the last.Though Santayana is critical of each introduction, their commontheme is the introduction of the "fundamental convictions of mankind"(Realms o f Being xxv). With Scepticism and Animal Fai th, Santayana says hecommitted a "tactical circumlocution, and perhaps a misleading one, inbeginning by a reductio ad absurdum of m od ern parado xes" (xxv). Hispurpose in discriminating the "realms of being had been to reassert ourfundamental convictions", but philosophical argumentation intervenedand left one not inclined to "recover his natural reason under the nameof animal faith" (xxv). His second introd uc tion indicated "how thesekinds of reality may come to be distinguished by an animal mind in thepresence of na ture " (xxv-xxvi). T h e third , according to Santayana, is"perhaps the best for that part of the public which is more interested inan author's life and in what people say of him than they are in his works.Yet so labyrinthine an approach may block the way as much as it guides,and may end in utter confusion ... ." (xxvi).

In all four efforts Santayana introduces the realms through a criticaland analytic investigation made "in the full light of human experienceand h istory" (RB xxviii). H e is no t describin g an outlook limited to hisow n perspective^ even when he writes in Scepticism and Animal Fai th thatthe realms "are only kinds or categories of things which I findconspicuously different and wo rth distingu ishing . . ." (vi). Santayan aassumes an intersubjectivity of experience: "I think it reasonable tosuppose that the beliefs that prove inevitable for me, after absolutelydisinterested criticism, would prove inevitable also to most human beings"(RB xxix). Neither does he intend his realms to indicate a hierarchicalord erin g of th e w orld an ord erin g that is the basis for justifying,directing, or criticizing human actions; such an understanding would onlybe a "metaphysical projection by which Existence is referred to the Non-Existent as to its Ground" ("On Metaphysical Projection," 116).C. Metaphysical ProjectionThroughout his ontology, Santayana consistently indicates that matteralone is the contingent basis for any order in the world as well as for anyorder projected on the other realms. The realms of essence, truth, andspirit are non causal. O ne may project ord er and force upo n theserealms, bu t in themselves they have no ne . In the Realm o f EssenceSantayana specifically contrasts his view with that of Plotinus: "In contrastto such a Logos, the realm of essence forms rather a chaos than acosmos. Any special system has alterna tives, an d must tremb le for itsfrontiers; whereas the realm of essence, in its perfect catholicity, is placidand safe and the same whatever may happen in earth or heaven" (RB 82).The realm of essence is the realm of every conceivable possibility.Projecting a structure on such a realm is to limit possibility to one's home


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H E R M E S T H E I N T E R P R E T E R 2 5d ia l ec t an d pe r so na l imag ina t ion . San tayana ' s i n s igh t tha t t he fo rms o fthe good a r e d ive rgen t r evea l s a chao t i c r ea lm o f poss ib le goods no tlog ica l ly or mora l ly ordered by an imal in teres ts o r ta len ts . But aperspec t ive of neu t ra l i ty toward every poss ib le good , an " ind iscr iminatesympathy wi th every form of l i fe" (Persons and Places 170), i s a perspec t iveone can on ly imagina t ive ly ach ieve because i t s ach ievement i s poss ib leonly by a physica l be ing wi th spec i f ic and def in i te in teres ts . One mayrecogn ize tha t eve ry fo rm o f the good has i t s own pe r f ec t ion , and onemay r e spec t t ha t pe r f ec t ion , bu t " the r igh t o f a l i en na tu re s to pu r suethe i r p rope r a ims can neve r abo l i sh ou r r igh t to pu r sue ou r s" (170 ) .Ea ch form of th e go od is def in i te an d f inal . O n e is no t jus t i f ied incondemning a fo rm o f the good a s s tup id o r c rue l s imp ly because i td i f f e r s f rom ano the r fo rm, even by chance one ' s own , bu t th i s does no td imin i sh one ' s r igh t to pu r sue one ' s own good .

San tay ana ' s ou t look sugges t s tha t one is no t f o r ced to choose be tw eenobjec t ive and subjec t ive charac ter iza t ions , bu t , ra ther , the re f lec t ive l i fe i sa po lar i ty between embod ied in t e r e s t s and r e f l ec t ive imag ina t ion

Documents

Overheard in Seville.3.1985