The final book in Santayana's masterwork of philosophical naturalism argues that science crowns the life of reason. Santayana's
Life of Reason, published in five books from 1905 to 1906, ranks as one of the greatest works in modern philosophical naturalism. Acknowledging the natural material bases of human life, Santayana traces the development of the human capacity for appreciating and cultivating ideals. It is a capacity he exhibits as he articulates a continuity running through animal impulse, practical intelligence, and ideal harmony in reason, society, art, religion, and science. The work is an exquisitely rendered vision of human life lived sanely.
In this fifth book, Santayana concludes his monumental work with a defense of science and a critique of major rivals to the cognitive ascendancy of science. Indeed, Santayana writes that science crowns the "whole life of Reason." He finds two kinds of science, physics and dialectic; considers the role of history; examines the mechanisms of nature; defends scientific psychology; discusses pre-rational morality, rational ethics, and post-rational morality; and argues that science contains all trustworthy knowledge.
This Critical Edition, volume VII of
The Works of George Santayana, includes notes, textual commentary, lists of variants and emendations, an index, and other tools useful to Santayana scholars. The other four books of the volume are
Reason in Common Sense, Reason in Society, Reason in Religion, and
Reason in Art.
桑塔亞那（Santayana）的哲學自然主義巨著的最後一本書主張科學為理性之生活加冕。
桑塔亞那的《理性之生活》（Life of Reason）於1905年至1906年間以五本書出版，被譽為現代哲學自然主義中最偉大的作品之一。承認人類生活的自然物質基礎，桑塔亞那追溯了人類欣賞和培養理想的能力的發展。他在書中展示了一種連續性，貫穿於動物衝動、實用智慧和理性中的理想和諧，包括理性、社會、藝術、宗教和科學。這部作品是對理智生活的精美描繪。
在這第五本書中，桑塔亞那以捍衛科學並批評主要競爭對手對科學的認知優勢進行結論。事實上，桑塔亞那寫道，科學為「整個理性之生活」加冕。他發現了兩種科學，物理學和辯證法；考慮了歷史的角色；檢視了自然的機制；捍衛了科學心理學；討論了前理性道德、理性倫理和後理性道德；並主張科學包含所有可信的知識。
這個《喬治·桑塔亞那作品集》（The Works of George Santayana）的第七卷，是一個關於桑塔亞那的重要版本，包括註釋、文本評論、變體和修正的列表、索引和其他對桑塔亞那學者有用的工具。該卷的其他四本書是《常識中的理性》（Reason in Common Sense）、《社會中的理性》（Reason in Society）、《宗教中的理性》（Reason in Religion）和《藝術中的理性》（Reason in Art）。
George Santayana (1863-1952) was a philosopher, poet, critic, and novelist. The MIT Press has published
The Letters of George Santayana in eight books and
The Life of Reason in five books.
Martin A. Coleman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. He is the editor of
The Essential Santayana and the director and editor of the Santayana Edition, which is publishing
The Works of George Santayana.
喬治·桑塔亞那（George Santayana，1863-1952）是一位哲學家、詩人、評論家和小說家。麻省理工學院出版社已經出版了八本《喬治·桑塔亞那的信件》（The Letters of George Santayana）和五本《理性的生活》（The Life of Reason）。馬丁·A·科爾曼（Martin A. Coleman）是印第安納波利斯印第安納大學自由藝術學院的哲學副教授。他是《喬治·桑塔亞那的精華》（The Essential Santayana）的編輯，也是桑塔亞那版本的主管和編輯，該版本正在出版《喬治·桑塔亞那的作品》（The Works of George Santayana）。
