Jorge/George Santayana on the United States: A prophet in spite of himself
- Autores: Daniel Moreno Moreno, José Beltrán
- Localización: Rethinking society: individuals, culture and migration / Vladimer Luarsabishvili (ed. lit.), Vol. 1, 2021 (Individuals and Society), ISBN 978 9941 9692 7 0, págs. 80-100
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
- Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
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Resumen
Santayana (Madrid, 1862-Roma 1953) has the particularity of being considered a classical philosopher both in the United States and in Spain. His life and work mark actually a bridge between both countries, and, in fact, between America and Europe. As a nomad and hybrid thinker, Santayana faced the intellectual and political temper of his age from a philosophical point of view that, in spite of himself, can be considered, in some way, as prophetic. This essay deals with Santayana’s appercus on the United Stated published as Character and Opinion in the United Stated one hundred years ago —we are going to check if his glimpses illuminate our own epoch—, and with an posthumous essay, entitled “Americanism” (1955), presented by Santayana with these words: “I don’t think it will hurt the American people to be scolded a bit”. Santayana’s criticism was directed at Americans, but we can say now that we all are Americans. We conclude that Santayana’s words are always inspiring and in circumstances as serious as those we face at present, they can shed some light and also, why not, bring some comfort to us. To close our paper, we choose one of his most famous sonnets: “Cape Cod” (1894).
