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Quote by George Santayana

“You cannot prove realism to a complete sceptic or idealist; but you can show an honest man that he is not a complete sceptic or idealist, but a realist at heart. So long as he is alive his sincere philosophy must fulfil the assumptions of his life and not destroy him.”

Book:Essays in critical realism: a co-operative study of the problem of knowledge

Work

Essays in critical realism: a co-operative study of the problem of knowledge

This book delves into the philosophical discourse surrounding critical realism, examining various perspectives on the problem of knowledge. The essays within offer a collaborative examination of the complexities involved in understanding and acquiring knowledge, providing a comprehensive look at the theoretical underpinnings of critical realism. more

Author

George Santayana

George Santayana was an American philosopher, essayist, and critic renowned for his unique philosophical thoughts and profound insights into culture, art, and science. His philosophy emphasizes individualism, naturalism, and pragmatism, and his works have had a profound impact on 20th-century philosophy and culture. more

“... even if Lucretius was wrong, and the soul is immortal, it is nevertheless steadily changing its interests and its possessions.Our lives are mortal if our soul is not; and the sentiment which reconciled Lucretius to death is as much needed if we are to face many deaths, as if we are to face only one.”

Ifs Soul Faces Interest Our Lives Needed Possession Mortals Immortality Immortal Sentiments Nevertheless

Book:The Works of George Santayana

Source: The Works of George Santayana

“We are not compelled in naturalism, or even in materialism, to ignore immaterial things; the point is that any immaterial things which are recognized shall be regarded as names, aspects, functions, or concomitant products of those physical things among which action goes on.”

Action Names Products Goes On Aspect Function Materialism Compelled Naturalism Material Things Physical Things

Book:The Works of George Santayana: Character and opinion in the United States. The genteel tradition at bay. Dewey's naturalistic metaphysics. Philosophical heresy

Source: The Works of George Santayana: Character and opinion in the United States. The genteel tradition at bay. Dewey's naturalistic metaphysics. Philosophical heresy

“My remembrance of the past is a novel I am constantly recomposing; and it would not be a historical novel, but sheer fiction, if the material events which mark and ballast my career had not their public dates and characters scientifically discoverable.”

Ifs Character Past Fiction Careers Novel Events Materials Mark Historical Sheer Remembrance Historical Novels Ballast

Book:The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings

Source: The Essential Santayana: Selected Writings

“Old age is as forgetful as youth, and more incorrigible; it displays the same inattentiveness to conditions; its memory becomes self-repeating and degenerates into an instinctive reaction, like a bird's chirp.”

Self Age Memories Conditions Youth Bird Reactions Old Age Display Degenerates Forgetful Incorrigible

Book:The Life of Reason: Introduction and Reason in Common Sense

Source: The Life of Reason: Introduction and Reason in Common Sense

“The human race, in its intellectual life, is organized like the bees: the masculine soul is a worker, sexually atrophied, and essentially dedicated to impersonal and universal arts; the feminine is queen, infinite fertile, omnipresent in its brooding industry, but passive and abounding in intuitions without method and passions without justice.”