Abstract

A close examination of the making of Dominations and Powers , the sole full-length political study of George Santayana's career, reveals the development of the philosopher's intensified naturalism and materialism after World War I. From its origins in 1918 until its stormy reception in 1951 and 1952, Dominations and Powers found the philosopher struggling with the ways in which to apply his science-informed naturalism to his political and social thought. For more than half of his sixty-year career, Santayana labored sporadically on this book which he considered to be his "complete view of human life and politics." By looking at Santayana's life and writing during the book's main composition periods , it is possible to observe the gradual emergence of what may be termed Santayana's "fluid conservatism." Through his understanding of the coexistence of "flux" and "order," Santayana merged ancient and modern philosophy, as well as ancient and modern science, into a profoundly relativistic, post-rational politics