History of the Origins of World Philosophy, Anglo-American New Realism No. 3: Santayana

Anglo-American New Realism No. 3: Santayana

　　Emerging from the critique of the New Realism of the United States, especially its epistemology, was critical realism, whose founder was Santayana and a group of seven, who in 1920 launched a book entitled "Collected Essays on Critical Realism" to expound their basic propositions on critical realism, which was also their common point of view, which was almost identical to the new realism in terms of production.

　　Santayana (1863-1952) was born in Spain and grew up in the United States. After graduating from Harvard University in 1886, he went to Germany to study, and after returning to the United States, he received a doctorate and stayed at Harvard to teach. After 1912, he moved to Spain, the United States, and France. He settled in Rome in 1925. His major works include Beauty (1896), Rational Life (1905-1906), Critical Realism (1920), Skepticism and Animal Belief (1923), and The Realms of Existence (1927-1940).

　　The development of Santayana's philosophical thought can be roughly divided into two stages. In the first stage, Santayana saw philosophy as a psychology of describing the higher spirit, embodied in the first two works; in the second stage, Santayana criticized the new realist epistemology and sought to establish a speculative system of "existence", which was embodied in the last three works.

　　

1. Philosophy is the psychology that depicts the higher spirit

In Beauty, Santayana defines aesthetic theory as merely a psychological inquiry, arguing that the material in which this discussion is conducted is an aesthetic judgment as "the product of spiritual phenomena and psychological evolution", from which he conceives a theory of value: the criterion of value is the enjoyment or pleasure obtained through various actions; negative values are related to morality, and aesthetic values are inseparable from positive enjoyment. Denying beauty is a product of social and historical practice.

　　In Life of Reason, Santayana argues that reason is neither a way of thinking about objective things and their laws, nor a subjective dialectical movement as a reflection of objective dialectics, but a "combination of instinct and the role of ideas" that is inherently irrational. Therefore, the discussion of religious, moral, scientific, and social issues in "Rational Life" has a strong irrational and religious color.

Santayana also strives to glorify religion, arguing that "religion and poetry are essentially the same" and that religion is a moral code of universal significance, the source of the greatest happiness for mankind. Religion and science are also not very different in nature, both are "language" (symbols) and myths, except that scientific symbols appear convenient and practical. As for morality, it cannot be separated from religion. He distinguished morality into "reasonable," "pre-reasonable," and "post-reasonable." "Reasonable" is associated with "true goodness," which is something that truly expresses certain important tendencies in human nature. "Pre-reasonable" and "post-reasonable" point to the primordial impulse without reflection, and the other point to the pursuit of certain ultra-secular ideals after abandoning the rational order.

　　

2. A critique of the new realist understanding

Critics such as Santayana point out that the "direct presentation" of the new realists equates existence with consciousness, which inevitably confuses the difference between truth and falsehood, truth and error, leading to contradictions with common sense experience and dilemma. Although they expressed their opinions on the nature of consciousness and the status of the object of illusion in order to get out of the predicament, the result was only greater confusion. Santayana et al. emphasize the difference between the object of knowledge and the state of consciousness, emphasize that the object of knowledge is the object itself, which exists independently in the process of cognition, pointing out that the subject of knowledge does not directly relate to the object, that is, the object of knowledge must use the intermediary role to enter consciousness, which is the "characteristic complex" or "nature group". In Santayana's view, the "characteristic complex" cannot be reduced to merely a mental, subjective state of consciousness, or an objective, physical existence; it is between the subject and the object, a "cluster" of impressions of reality (present impressions) that evoke memories (past impressions), and ideas that give meaning, which are things that are directly "given", so that we perceive the content and direct "material". Santayana also calls it "essence" or "universality." "Material" is not the object itself, nor is it a true reaction or imitation of external things, but we must use it as a tool to seek knowledge of external things, and use it as an intermediary to understand objects. In this way, there will be illusions, hallucinations and other misconceptions.

So, how to know the existence of foreign objects, how to use "materials" to make foreign objects into the state of consciousness and misconceptions occur? Santayana replied simply: The existence of foreign objects is only an "animalistic belief" of man, an instinctive, intuitive belief, a belief that both man and animal have. This is tantamount to shelving the existence of foreign objects. Here, we also seem to see Kant's shadow: the intellect cannot know the "thing itself", but its nature drives it to know the "thing itself", thus generating illusions and "two laws of reversal", and "the thing itself" can not be reached.

　　

3. The speculative system of "existence"

Santayana proposes that the self-inquiry of consciousness gives rise to "ways of being" or "fundamental categories." The "mode of being" consists of essence, matter, truth, and spirit. Correspondingly, the realm of existence is divided into the "essential realm", the "material realm", the "truth realm", and the "spiritual realm".

Santayana says that "essential existence" exists only in the "self-identity" with its nature, and its intrinsicity has nothing to do with any place in time or space, so that all essences have universality. Countless essences come together to form an "absolute essence" in "pure existence", which is contained in all essences. He also believed that the "realm of essence" consisted of color, breath, taste, and other ideal objects of actual sensation, as well as in thinking and imagination, and that it was the realm of knowledge in which there was no doubt about the mind. "Material existence" has the properties of temporal processes and spatial extensions. Matter exists by chance, exhibiting uncertainty and perishability. The "material realm" is the world of natural objects, and living things are part of this realm. Matter is unknowable, but one can believe in matter on the basis of "animal beliefs."

　　With regard to the "realm of truth," in Santayana's view, it has to do with both essence and matter. Truth is "the sum of all propositions." But any proposition, even a mathematical proposition, is only an accidental truth, and there is no necessary truth in the world. Truth is truth about matter or things that exist, but independent of existence, for the following reasons:

(1) No single fact can be a description of itself.

　　(2) Even if nothing exists in the world, it is true that "nothing really existed in the past."

　　The "spiritual realm" is the last component of Santayana's speculative system of "being.". He declared that in the "spiritual realm" is a "purely transcendental" consciousness, arguing that the "spirit" is distinct from the mind as well as special mental events. The only function of the "spirit" is intuition, a direct and obvious grasp of the appearance of things, and it is completely passive in its relation to the material natural world.

　　At this point, Santayana completed the construction of his speculative system of "existence" according to the philosophical line of objective idealism of critical realism. It is wrapped in a veil of mystical religion.

　　Santayana's above views basically represent the basic propositions of critical realism. But just as the new realism is not a whole piece of steel, there are differences of opinion among critics of realism.

After the 1920s, Santayana, Silas, etc. turned to naturalism, and the realist trend gradually merged with schools such as logical positivism and analytic philosophy. By the time of World War II, neo-realism and critical realism had ceased to exist as separate schools.

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