Is George Santayana an American Philosopher?

Abstract

Max Fisch in his characterization of Classic American Philosophy identified six leading figures including Georges Santayana. Others have found reasons for excluding Santayana from the tradition. Both sides of the issues seem not to have taken full account of Santayana’s own views of his place among his contemporaries and predecessors. Santayana acknowledged his relations to his American contemporaries, but he resisted assimilation to their philosophical views. His materialism, his reverence for what he called human orthodoxy, his understanding of culture, and his philosophical theory led him to reject what he saw as the moralism, subjectivism, and mysticism in American philosophy. He found the American tradition neglectful of what he took to be the end of philosophic life, namely spiritual freedom. Santayana believed philosophic activity ultimately is unconcerned with (though materially dependent on) accidental conditions such as religion or nationality.