The Ethics of Detachment in Santayana's Philosophy [Hardcover]

Knowing that we are finite, how can we live to the fullest? Philosopher George Santayana suggested 'spirituality' enables us to enjoy what we have. This book clarifies and extends Santayana's account of spirituality, while suggesting how the detachment of spirituality can relieve human suffering, enrich our lives, and make us better human beings.Introduction 1. Ultimate Value in Psychology 2. Spirituality and Religion 3. An Ontology for Spirituality 4. The Outer Structure and the Inner Nature of Spirituality 5. Santayana and Schopenhauer 6. A Philosophical Defense of Spirituality 7. Spirituality and Human Finitude Bibliography Index

Michael Brodrick is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Miami University, Oxford, OH. Born in Mineola, New York, Brodrick was educated at Fordham University and later at Vanderbilt. His research links the ideas of classical American philosophers to contemporary moral concerns of individual and social significance. Brodrick's most recent work argues for a conception of the good life that includes an element of value-free transcendence. He has also published on the idea of God, relations between concepts and natural objects, the history of philosophy in America, and the history of the American Philosophical Association.