Scepticism and Animal Faith: Introduction to a System of PhilosophyIn this work, Santayana analyzes the nature of the knowing process and demonstrates by means of clear, powerful arguments how we know and what validates our knowledge. The central concept of his philosophy is found in a careful discrimination between the awareness of objects independent of our perception and the awareness of essences attributed to objects by our mind, or between what Santayana calls the realm of existents and the realm of subsistents. Since we can never be certain that these attributes actually inhere in a substratum of existents, skepticism is established as a form of belief, but animal faith is shown to be a necessary quality of the human mind. Without this faith there could be no rational approach to the necessary problem of understanding and surviving in this world. Santayana derives this practical philosophy from a wide and fascinating variety of sources. He considers critically the positions of such philosophers as Descartes, Euclid, Hume, Kant, Parmenides, Plato, Pythagoras, Schopenhauer, and the Buddhist school as well as the assumptions made by the ordinary man in everyday situations. Such matters as the nature of belief, the rejection of classical idealism, the nature of intuition and memory, symbols and myth, mathematical reality, literary psychology, the discovery of essence, sublimation of animal faith, the implied being of truth, and many others are given detailed analyses in individual chapters. |
Contents
DOUBTS ABOUT CHANGE | 27 |
ULTIMATE SCEPTICISM | 33 |
NOTHING GIVEN EXISTS | 42 |
SOME AUTHORITIES FOR THIS CONCLUSION | 49 |
THE DISCOVERY OF ESSENCE | 67 |
SOME USES OF THIS DISCOVERY | 77 |
THE WATERSHED OF CRITICISM | 99 |
IDENTITY AND DURATION ATTRIBUTED TO ESSENCES | 109 |
BELIEF IN SUBSTANCE | 182 |
ON SOME OBJECTIONS TO BELIEF IN SUBSTANCE | 192 |
PAGE | 196 |
CHAP PAGE XXI SUBLIMATIONS OF ANIMAL FAITH | 214 |
BELIEF IN NATURE | 233 |
EVIDENCES OF ANIMATION IN NATURE | 240 |
LITERARY PSYCHOLOGY | 252 |
THE IMPLIED BEING OF TRUTH | 262 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
absolute action actual æsthetic animal faith appearance Aristotle assert assumed attribute become belief in substance body called conceive conventional criticism of knowledge datum deny Descartes dialectic discovered dogma doubt dramatic dream empiricist eternal evidence existence experience express fact false fancy feel fiction flux given essence habits Heraclitus human hypostasis ideal ideas identical illusion images imagination infinite instinct intelligence intent intuition of essence judgement language less literary psychology living logic matter mean memory mental discourse merely metaphysical mind moral natural world never notion object observation opinion Parmenides particular passions past perception perhaps perspective philosophers physical Platonic posited present primary memory principle Protagoras psyche pure spirit reality realm of essence reason recognise relations renders scepticism sensation sense sentience shock simply solipsism sort soul specious specious present suggest suppose symbols theme thought tion transcendental transcendentalist true truth universe words