''The Realms of Being'' (1942) is the last major work by Spanish-American

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

George Santayana Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known in English as George Santayana (; December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952), was a Spanish and US-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised ...

. Along with ''

Scepticism and Animal Faith ''Scepticism and Animal Faith'' (1923) is a later work by Spanish-born American philosopher George Santayana. He intended it to be "merely the introduction to a new system of philosophy," a work that would later be called ''The Realms of Being'', w ...

'' and ''

The Life of Reason ''The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress'' is a book published in five volumes from 1905 to 1906, by Spanish-born American philosopher George Santayana. It consists of ''Reason in Common Sense'', ''Reason in Society'', ''Reason in Religi ...

'', it is his most notable work; the first two works concentrate primarily on

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

respectively, whereas ''The Realms of Being'' is mainly a work in the field of

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

. Santayana builds on his ''Skepticism and Animal Faith'', which he described as a sort of precursor to "a new system of philosophy", that would be developed fully in the present work. He defines four realms of being; ''The Realm of Essence'', ''The Realm of Matter'', ''The Realm of Truth'', and ''The Realm of Spirit''.

Realms

The Realm of Essence

The Realm of Essence, in Santayana's view, has a type of primacy over the other realms. To him, essence is anything that is or has a character—this includes thoughts, imaginings, derivations of logic, and material objects. Nothing can be experienced but through these essences, and they "are the only things people ever see, and the last they notice." Essence is ''awareness'', it is different from knowledge or from ''faith'', which he defines later.

The Realm of Matter

Matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic partic ...

is the objective, material stuff of the universe. Staying true to his

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

, Santayana holds matter as the "primordial existential flux" and believes it can be, at least in some sense, known. His conception of matter is similar to

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

's substance; matter has no purpose, but constitutes the limitations of what can be. Humans can know matter only from a distance, symbolically: Thus, while Santayana reveres and deeply respects science (and believes it useful for everyday experiences), he does not deify it in the way many other philosophers of the 20th century have, and he limits it to a fallible approximation of truth.

The Realm of Truth

The Realm of Truth was thought of well after Santayana had thought of his other three realms; he envisions it as a sort of subdivision of the Realm of Essence. Truth is that part of the Realm of Essences instantiated by matter; indeed, he says: As the

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...

entry on Santayana says: Santayana here departs from classical

pragmatists Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

, of whom he is often considered one, in that he believes truth has a strong element outside of experience, and must coincide with what actually is.

The Realm of Spirit

Spirit is, as used by Santayana, very much akin to consciousness; it is, according to

John Lachs John Lachs (July 17, 1934 – November 14, 2023) was a Hungarian-born American philosopher. He was Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, where he began teaching in 1967. Lachs received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 196 ...

, "that part of a life constituted by its series of intuitions". Santayana believes that the mind is more accustomed to essence than it is to fact, and, as such, consciousness may at times manifest things that are not fact. Herein is to be found the Realm of Spirit; it is Santayana's attempt to reconcile the theories of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and the demands of

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

.Flamm, Matthew C. ''The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: George Santayana'' 2006

References