Timothy L S Sprigge

First published in 1970, Facts, Words and Beliefs is concerned primarily with formulating the following question and suggesting the right way of answering it- how can a few stray images or muttered words running through our mind constitute our envisagement of situation perhaps remote in time and place from our present position? From a practical point of view the moments when we envisage the nature of some situation which we believe to exist may not be of any great importance. It would seem that our belief in the existence of such situations lies in some sort of adjustment of our behaviour to them which will be useful if the situations really exist, from the point of view of survival and comfort. The author suggests that these moments of conscious envisagement of such absent situations may be rather a sign of such successful adjustment than a factor in bringing it about, hence of no practical value in themselves. However, if knowledge has any sort of intrinsic value, it must surely lie in those moments when one does consciously envisage some aspects of the world more or less as it really is, and to try to understand the nature of these moments is to try to understand all that is of intrinsic value in knowledge. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of philosophy.

First published in 1970, Facts, Words and Beliefs is concerned primarily with formulating the following question and suggesting the right way of answering it- how can a few stray images or muttered words running through our mind constitute our envisagement of situation perhaps remote in time and place from our present position? From a practical point of view the moments when we envisage the nature of some situation which we believe to exist may not be of any great importance. It would seem that our belief in the existence of such situations lies in some sort of adjustment of our behaviour to them which will be useful if the situations really exist, from the point of view of survival and comfort. The author suggests that these moments of conscious envisagement of such absent situations may be rather a sign of such successful adjustment than a factor in bringing it about, hence of no practical value in themselves. However, if knowledge has any sort of intrinsic value, it must surely lie in those moments when one does consciously envisage some aspects of the world more or less as it really is, and to try to understand the nature of these moments is to try to understand all that is of intrinsic value in knowledge. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of philosophy.

This classic study of Santayana was the first book to appear in the Arguments of the Philosophers series. Growing interest in the work of this important American philosopher has prompted this new edition of the book complete with a new preface by the author reassessing his own ideas about Santayana and reflecting the new interest in the philosopher's work. A select bibliography of works published about Santayana since the book's first appearance is also included.

First published in 1999. The purpose of this series is to provide a contemporary assessment and history of the entire course of philosophical thought. Each book constitutes a detailed, critical introduction to the work of a philosopher of major influence and significance. The arguments of the philosophers take on many differing forms. Those of George Santayana bear little similarity to what we find today in the Journal of Philosophy: indeed, some have been misled by his imagery and splendid prose style to believe that no arguments are being made at all in Santayana’s many books. Timothy Sprigge’s gift is an ability to draw clear ties between these writings and important contemporary issues, and to show that Santayana makes a contribution to today’s arguments.

Timothy Sprigge was one of the leading exponents of philosophical idealism in the last fifty years. His scholarly work in the history of modern philosophy focused on Baruch Spinoza, William James, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, F. H. Bradley, Arthur Schopenhauer, Edmund Husserl, and Alfred North Whitehead: this eventually led to the construction of his own original system of metaphysics he called 'panpsychistic absolute idealism'. Idealism, long unfashionable, has been coming back into favour, and Sprigge's work has found a new readership. This selection of his finest essays ranges widely over metaphysics, ethics, and the history of philosophy: all the themes that he discusses are drawn together in his unique philosophical system, based upon his original theory of the nature of consciousness.

First published in 1999. The purpose of this series is to provide a contemporary assessment and history of the entire course of philosophical thought. Each book constitutes a detailed, critical introduction to the work of a philosopher of major influence and significance. The arguments of the philosophers take on many differing forms. Those of George Santayana bear little similarity to what we find today in the Journal of Philosophy: indeed, some have been misled by his imagery and splendid prose style to believe that no arguments are being made at all in Santayana’s many books. Timothy Sprigge’s gift is an ability to draw clear ties between these writings and important contemporary issues, and to show that Santayana makes a contribution to today’s arguments.

This classic study of Santayana was the first book to appear in the Arguments of the Philosophers series. Growing interest in the work of this important American philosopher has prompted this new edition of the book complete with a new preface by the author reassessing his own ideas about Santayana and reflecting the new interest in the philosopher's work. A select bibliography of works published about Santayana since the book's first appearance is also included.