Life As Insinuation : George Santayana's Hermeneutics of Finite Life and Human Self

A holistic reinterpretation of Santayana’s thought in terms of a dramatic philosophy of life. In this book, Katarzyna Kremplewska offers a thorough analysis of Santayana’s conception of human self, viewed as part of his larger philosophy of life. Santayana emerges as an author of a provocative philosophy of drama, in which human life is acted out. Kremplewska demonstrates how his thought addresses the dynamics of human self in this context and the possibility of sustaining self-integrity while coping with the limitations of finite life. Focusing on particular aspects of Santayana’s thought such as his conception of the tragic aspect of existence, and the role of the doctrine of spirit in his philosophical anthropology and critique of culture, this book also sets Santayana’s thought in substantial dialogue with other thinkers, such as Heidegger, Bergson, and Nietzsche. Like Santayana’s philosophy, this book seeks to build passages between theoretical reflection and practical life with the possibility of a good life in view. Contents......Page 6 Works by Other Authors......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 1.1 An Antidote to the Self......Page 22 1.2 The Modern Self: Between Reflection and Power......Page 25 1.3 A Shift of Metaphors: From a Unitary Self to a Stream......Page 32 1.4 A Digression on Freedom......Page 41 1.5 Regaining the Self: The Expressivist Turn and Beyond......Page 43 Knowledge as a Wager......Page 50 The Skeptic’s Revelation......Page 53 Here-and-Now......Page 55 Sentimental Time......Page 57 Ontology and the Self......Page 60 Materialism as a Liberating Viewpoint: Toward a Hermeneutic Self......Page 63 Psyche in Action......Page 67 Narrative and Dramatic Strategies of Sustaining Self-Integrity......Page 68 3.1 Endurance and Narrative: A Twofold Individuation......Page 80 Psyche as the Principle of Selection and the (In)efficacy of Thinking......Page 84 Contemplative Vitalism and the Diversification of Lifetime......Page 89 The Empty “Now” and Selfhood......Page 92 Masks as Traces of Interpretation......Page 96 The Authorship of Life: Authenticity and Freedom......Page 101 Grace......Page 105 From a Dogma to a Language: The Self and the Trinity......Page 112 Chapter 4. Life as Insinuation......Page 118 4.1 Insinuation as Incarnation of the Past......Page 119 4.2 Acting Out: A Hermeneutic Insinuation......Page 122 4.3 An “Epitomized Form”......Page 126 4.4 Domesticating Matter: Forms of Finitude......Page 127 Chapter 5. Coping with Finitude: Santayana Reading Heidegger......Page 134 5.1 Concepts and Strategies. From a Phenomenology of Daily Life to a Hermeneutic Ontology......Page 135 5.2 The Self, Dasein, and Incarnate Spirit......Page 144 5.3 Lived Experience and Passivity......Page 146 5.4 Transcendence, Freedom, and the Non-Transparency of the Self......Page 149 5.5 Modalities of Life: Strategies of Missing Oneself and the Recognition of Finitude......Page 157 5.6 The Drama of Life and Spiritual Liberation......Page 163 Chapter 6. The Tragic Aspect of Existence......Page 170 A Macrocosm of Moral Possibilities......Page 173 Acting as “Guilt”......Page 174 Existence as Original Sin......Page 178 Sources: The Tragedy of Individuation......Page 183 Being Never Too Late for Oneself: The Tragic and the Eternal Return......Page 188 Santayana’s Critique of Nietzsche......Page 191 6.3 Nemesis and Time......Page 197 Between Spiritual Dissolution and the Invention of the Human......Page 198 Against Fatalistic Reduction......Page 206 Chapter 7. Beyond the Self (into the Political Realm): The Essential Negativity of Human Being and Rational (Self-)Government......Page 216 7.1 Negativity......Page 217 7.2 Realm of Politics......Page 222 7.3 The Challenge of Integrity......Page 226 7.4 Threats......Page 228 Notes......Page 232 Primary Sources......Page 272 Secondary Sources......Page 274 Index......Page 282 "In this book, Katarzyna Kremplewska offers a thorough analysis of Santayana's conception of human self, viewed as part of his larger philosophy of life. Santayana emerges as an author of a provocative philosophy of drama, in which human life is acted out. Kremplewska demonstrates how his thought addresses the dynamics of human self in this context and the possibility of sustaining self-integrity while coping with the limitations of finite life. Focusing on particular aspects of Santayana's thought such as his conception of the tragic aspect of existence, and the role of the doctrine of spirit in his philosophical anthropology and critique of culture, this book also sets Santayana's thought in substantial dialogue with other thinkers such as Heidegger, Bergson, and Nietzsche. Like Santayana's philosophy, this book seeks to build passages between theoretical reflection and practical life with the possibility of a good life in view"-- Provided by publisher