Egotism in German philosophy George Santayana Books
Download As PDF : Egotism in German philosophy George Santayana Books
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
Egotism in German philosophy George Santayana Books
This book is so good,so clear,
concise,
and conclusive,
that you will understand
any other dark systems of philosophy
that you will encounter afterwards
just by remembering Santayana's keen insight.
German Idealism (Egotism) is here revealed
and exposed. Thus spoke Santayana.
Product details
|
Tags : Egotism in German philosophy [George Santayana] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work,George Santayana,Egotism in German philosophy,Ulan Press,B009EP0NY0,HISTORY General
People also read other books :
- The Capital Underground Ron Ruthfield 9781453732878 Books
- Bedrock Baby Bib and Booties Crochet Pattern edition by Sharon Santorum Crafts Hobbies Home eBooks
- Tame Me Alpha Four Book 2 edition by Mia Dymond Romance eBooks
- Care 101 eBook Frank Gabrin
- Domenico Scarlatti 30 Sonatas eBook Fabio Zanon
Egotism in German philosophy George Santayana Books Reviews
See my remarks on editions of Santayana's INTERPRETATIONS OF POETRY AND RELIGION and of SCEPTICISM AND ANIMAL FAITH digitized from library copy, unformatted for , a mess.
George Santayana (1863-1952) was born in Madrid, Spain, but he had an American mother. I believe EGOTISM IN GERMAN PHILOSOPHY was written in 1916, though I do not see any copyright information except "All rights reserved" in the old hardcover copy I just read. In the Preface, which mentioned "the present war," the author admits, "During more than twenty years, while I taught philosophy at Harvard College, I had continual occasion to read and discuss German metaphysics." (p. 5). After his Spanish father's death in 1912, Santayana's inheritance was sufficient to allow him to give up teaching and move to Rome. When I acquired this book, I expected an American point of view, fraught with anticipation of being dragged into a fight which was not of our own choosing. German philosophy could be considered as a factor for which Germans expected us to fear having to fight the Germans precisely because it could contribute to understanding what we would be up against. This book seems to be more interested in arguments against Egotism than in practical considerations in which politics would be the prime consideration for deciding who should defend civilization as we expect it to continue thriving on the weight of arguments for and against how American participation might push things one way or the other in the great war which is now considered World War One.
The intervening 96 years have provided the world with the political example of Adolf Hitler, a master of putting German feelings into words that defied the rest of the world so emotionally that almost everyone understands how the Germans thought that he was on their side, even if no one else would. Santayana seems to be opposed to that kind of national Egotism, but his writing is limited to the examples in philosophy which preceded it. As the Preface says, "They merely shared and justified prophetically that spirit of uncompromising self-assertion and metaphysical conceit which the German nation is now reducing to action." (p. 7). The religious background is surveyed for foundations of individual philosophies
Kant was a puritan; he revered the rule of right as something immutable and holy, perhaps never obeyed in the world. Fichte was somewhat freer in his Calvinism; the rule of right was the moving power in all life and nature, though it might have been betrayed by a doomed and self-seeking generation. Hegel was a very free and superior Lutheran; he saw that the divine will was necessarily and continuously realised in this world, though we might not recognise the fact in our petty moral judgments. Schopenhauer, speaking again for this human judgment, revolted against that cruel optimism, and was an indignant atheist; and finally, in Nietzsche, this atheism became exultant; he thought it the part of a man to abet the movement of things, however calamitous, in order to appropriate its wild force and be for a moment the very crest of its wave. (p. 25)
Calvin had an early influence. "In Kant, who in this matter followed Calvin, the independence between the movement of nature, both within and without the soul, and the ideal of right was exaggerated into an opposition. The categorical imperative was always authoritative, but perhaps never obeyed. The divine law was far from being like the absolute Will in Fichte, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. . . . On the contrary the sublimity of the categorical imperative lay precisely in the fact that, while matter and life moved on in their own unregenerate way, a principle which they ought to follow, overarched and condemned them, and constrained them to condemn themselves. Human nature was totally depraved and incapable of the least merit, nor had it any power of itself to become righteous. Its amiable spontaneous virtues, having but a natural motive, were splendid vices." (p. 57).
In the index, Max Stirner is listed under M, probably because his real name wasn't Max Stirner, and he is hardly considered real. "The work of Max Stirner on the single separate person and what he may call his own hardly belongs to German philosophy as I have been using the words it lacks the transcendental point of departure, as well as all breadth of view, metaphysical subtlety, or generous afflatus; it is a bold, frank, and rather tiresome protest against the folly of moral idealism, against the sacrifice of the individual to any ghostly powers such as God, duty, the state, humanity, or society; all of which this redoubtable critic called `spooks' and regarded as fixed ideas and pathological obsessions. This crudity was relieved by a strong mother-wit and a dogged honesty; and it is not impossible that this poor schoolmaster, in his solitary meditations, may have embodied prophetically a rebellion against polite and religious follies which is brewing in the working classes." (p. 99) Karl Marx is not mentioned in this book, but it seems to me that Marx may have learned from "Saint Max" what the average American of today learns by watching TV. Television is not mentioned, or expected, in this book, but George Santayana might have seen one sometime before he died, and I'll bet he heard Hitler on the radio within 20 years after he wrote this book.
Anarchy is not listed in the index of this book, but the tendency in that direction becomes apparent with "A highest good to be obtained apart from each and every specific interest is more than unattainable; it is unthinkable." (p. 111). Schopenhauer can easily represent "the spirit of opposition; his righteous wrath was aroused by the sardonic and inhuman optimism of Hegel, the arguments for which were so cogent, so Calvinistic, and so irrelevant that they would have lost none of their force if they had been proposed in hell." (p. 111). "The ground of life, the Will in all things, was something lurid and tempestuous, itself a psychological chaos. The alternative to theism in the mind of Schopenhauer was not naturalism but anarchy." (p. 112). "The romantic travesty of life and this conception of metaphysical anarchy were inherited by Nietzsche and regarded by him as the last word of philosophy. . . . Romantic anarchy delighted him; and he crowned it with a rakish optimism, as with the red cap of Liberty." (pp. 112-3). The logic of the rest of the text, which ends on page 168 in this old hardcover, has a lot to say about what Nietzsche did not accomplish as a philosopher. I wish people would have more awareness of what anarchy might await those who disregard the present systems that still hold it back, but this book never promised to be about that question.
This book is so good,
so clear,
concise,
and conclusive,
that you will understand
any other dark systems of philosophy
that you will encounter afterwards
just by remembering Santayana's keen insight.
German Idealism (Egotism) is here revealed
and exposed. Thus spoke Santayana.
0 Response to "⇒ PDF Egotism in German philosophy George Santayana Books"
Post a Comment