George Santayana's Intellectual Ambition Analysis

George Santayana, in his essay “Intellectual Ambition,” asserts that humans must work to eliminate bias created by the use of imagination over the use of their senses and understanding in their perceptions of reality; he states that the faculty of understanding is often dulled by that of imagination, which often wastes initially “good” ideas by turning them into unrealistic dreams. Santayana supports his claims by describing the role of the sense of sight in the human mind, then the thought process of understanding as influenced by imagination, making his points through the use of parallelism, imagery, and syntactical methods. His purpose in writing this piece is to motivate his peers to strive for a more objective analysis of human systems …show more content…
He describes giving in to dreams as a “relapse,” since humans’ “brief [existences] are so like a dream,” implying that realism is a learned state of existence, as well as that dreams are comparable to illnesses or addictions. This is to subtly discourage his audience from believing that “dreams,” which are purposely described ambiguously, are desirable and a way to contribute to one’s ambition. (1) Santayana also describes the preliminary perceptions the human brain receives as “hieroglyphics,” the connotation of which conveys the idea that these perceptions are difficult for “our faculty of understanding” to unscramble, and subsequently create a realistic image from sensory impressions. (1) Another major factor in this section is syntactical structure; there is little variation in sentence length, with most of the essay comprised of longer sentences. However, sentences like “the resources of the mind are not commensurate with its ambition” are emphasized when surrounded by said longer sentences. Santayana uses an asyndeton in the phrase “synthesis, abstraction, reproduction, invention” - lengthening the sentence that it is a part of, which provides it with a list-like effect in order to highlight the multiple “powers” of understanding. …show more content…
(2) Somewhat ironically, he emphasizes this point with a fair amount of imagery, comparing the brain’s perceptions to “seeds into a furrowed field” and “sparks into a keg of powder” , evoking a sort of pathos that appeared to be absent in previous paragraphs. (2) This may actually be an attempt to widen the essay’s appeal - these similes are not quite as enveloped in complex language as other parts of the essay are, therefore making the expressed ideas much more accessible. This slightly more casual language continues throughout the penultimate paragraph; a notable structure that contributes to this is the use of parenthesis when Santayana describes the multiplication of images and ideas - “each image breeds a hundred more, sometimes slowly and subterraneously, sometimes (when a passionate train is started) with a sudden burst of fancy.” (2) He seems to be illustrating his point with this, as parenthesis convey the idea of an addition that was not necessarily needed, but was at least worth mentioning, much like many of the ideas that would be produced in a situation such as the one Santayana