The Emergence of the immaterial spirit through the material psyche in the philosophy of George Santayana

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2015

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Hamdioğlu, Yakup

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Santayana’s mature philosophical works depends on the animal faith philosophy locating the action at the centre, which he view as an honest approach for philosophy, and on the realms of being locating matter and essence at the centre. In these works, what initiates the adventure of human being in the world of action or the realm of matter is the fact that s/he has a psyche. The psyche plays a so active role in the integrity between nature and our actions that her role paves the foundation for the emergence of the immaterial spirit. A highly organized psyche within animal conditions is an essential condition for this foundation. Within this context, the most significant concept employed by Santayana is animal faith. The object of intent directed by the animal faith and the intuition of essence directed by psyche play key role for the emergence of the spirit. Although being a materialist, Santayana is able to deal with spirit in the material existence without reducing it to the realm of matter on the grounds of animal faith emerging here. From this point of view, though spirit remains attached to the conditions of psyche to the end, that Santayana argues that spirit is an immaterial realm of being without going beyond the boundaries of materialism is worthy of consideration. In the light of these considerations, the main question, which the present study will seek an answer, is that: how does the immaterial spirit through the material psyche rise in the material existence?

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Philosophy.

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http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12618550/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/24489

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

Y. Hamdioğlu, “The Emergence of the immaterial spirit through the material psyche in the philosophy of George Santayana,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2015.