The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress - 9780262028325

Santayana's Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging thenatural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity forappreciating and cultivating the ideal. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuityrunning through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art,religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely. Inthis third book, Santayana offers a naturalistic interpretation of religion. He believes thatreligion is ignoble if regarded as a truthful depiction of real beings and events; but regarded aspoetry, it might be the greatest source of wisdom. Santayana analyzes four characteristic religiousconcerns: piety, spirituality, charity, and immortality. He is at his most profound in hisdiscussion of immortality, arguing for an ideal immortality that does not eradicate the fear ofdeath but offers a way for mortal man to share in immortal things and live in a manner that willbestow on his successors the imprint of his soul.

This critical edition, volumeVII of The Works of George Santayana, includes notes, textual commentary, listsof variants and emendations, bibliography, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The otherfour books of the volume include Reason in Common Sense, Reason in Society, Reason inArt, and Reason in Science.