Abstract

This dissertation involves a detailed examination of George Santayana's critique of transcendentalism. Specifically, it explores his critical analysis of modern epistemology as a means of affirming a naturalist ontology while acknowledging a form of spiritual reality. A holistically meaningful doctrine should be able to honor each aspect of existence in its own right and also to incorporate these aspects in an inclusive whole. I argue that Santayana's ontological system accomplishes exactly this and is made possible by his epistemological critique. Transcendentalism, as he defines it, characterizes a philosophy that analyzes intuition to the exclusion of materiality; Santayana finds the source of this inward retreat in a flawed equation of knowledge with certainty. While he takes the Cartesian skeptical reduction to a moment of pure presence seriously, Santayana---unlike Descartes and his intellectual descendants---argues that it can never be the foundation for knowledge. By basing knowledge instead on belief, or animal faith, Santayana restores the possibility of talking meaningfully about a material reality independent of human experience. ;A non-reductive naturalism is rare in philosophy today, yet its relevance to contemporary issues is not to be underestimated. The problem of skepticism regarding the truth of a reality independent of a knowing subject is a legacy inherited by each of the contemporary traditions and responded to in distinctive yet comparable ways. In contrast to the prevailing approaches---the majority of which, I argue, fit Santayana's definition of transcendentalism---I show how a reality fundamentally different from yet productive of conscious awareness preserves the best aspects of skepticism toward our knowledge of the material world while offering the possibility for affirmative and effective approaches to the problems of everyday life. Ultimately, this work depicts how Santayana's naturalist ontology recognizes two distinct and equally important aspects of the human condition: practical navigation through the material world and spiritual reflection on the richness of subjective life