George Santayana
On the Misinterpretation of Perception
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As our familiarity with the world grows, we find ourselves increasingly confused. Apart from the fantastical initial inadequacy of our perception, we now face competing attempts to explain it and new uncertainty about whether these doctrines relate to the original objects or are self-evident and, if so, which of them is true.
George Santayana (1863–1952) was an American philosopher of Spanish origin who believed, among other things, that the task of philosophy was not to explain the world but to develop a moral stance towards it.