Reason in Common Sense (v. 1) (The Life of Reason) - Softcover

Santayana, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486239195 ISBN 13: 9780486239194

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc., 1980

Synopsis

For most of the twentieth century the life of reason has been under attack from all sides: Freudian psychology, Einsteinium relativity and Heisenbergian uncertainty, religious and drug-induced mysticism, and such 20th-century philosophy schools as linguistic analysis and existentialism. But reason is beginning to reassert its essential value, and readers are searching for those philosophical analyses that place a high valuation on reason and understand its importance. One of the most far-reaching of all books of this kind is George Santayana's monumental five-volume work The Life of Reason. In Reason in Common Sense, Santayana first proposes the theme that is central to all five volumes; reason cannot be restricted to the purely intellectual activities of man; it is, rather, a fusion of impulse and reflection, of instinct and ideation. In this initial volume, the author develops his theme with respect to common sense, bringing his wide-ranging intelligence to bear on such vital topics a experience, nature, intellect, wide-ranging intelligence to bear on such vital topics as experience, nature, intellect, language, abstract ideas, the practicality of thought, and human nature. In the course of his examination, he considers the contributions of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, and Kant; and he skillfully weaves together such diverse philosophical themes as naturalism, empiricism, skepticism, realism, and idealism.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.
• Publication date: 1980
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0486239195
• ISBN 13: 9780486239194
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 205