George Santayana is an unequaled champion of emotional life and the value of pure contemplation and imaginative play. In his first philosophical book, "The Sense of Beauty, " Santayana elucidates how the contemplation of beautiful ideals invests our lives with meaning. His great achievement is to offer a way of retaining the significance of spiritual and moral values in the context of a predominantly materialist and scientific world. This seminal work explores aesthetics, the psychological and cultural importance of art, and the relationship between the humanities and the sciences.