When one sees an object or a person or anything, generally he or she creates an imagination or an opinion about what he or she sees. This opinion or imagination so developed more probably depends on the physical appearance of the person one sees or the situation in which one sees the thing or person. Besides, it may also depend on the mentality and life experience of the person who sees the thing or the other person. This imagination may be true, but it need not necessarily always be the case. The given quote and its context can be perceived as attempting to tell this fact. It appears that the quotations is taken from the book The Concept of God: A Philosophical Discussion Concerning the Nature of the Divine Idea as a Demonstrable Reality co-written by Josiya Royce, Joseph Leconte, George Holmas Honison and Sodeney Edward Mezes.
A person who harbors the thought that an object that one see is really not like that, can be termed as a pragmatist. The reason for this assumption is a pragmatist understands things in a practical way and doesn’t take thing to be as they appear. They watch and consider the real effects of the things and the situation. That is they understand the truth than the imagination and want to be sure that their perception is correct, by observation. The given statement is also a truth. For example, when one sees a person, he may think that the particular person is a gentle man and he does not have any bad habits like smoking, and he is not a drug addict. It is a self assessment. In reality the truth may entirely different. One cannot clearly understand what a person’s exact behavior is on a first meeting. Another example is when one watches a rainbow he/she feels that rainbow has seven colors.
Pragmatism does not give much more importance to metaphysical involvement. A pragmatist accentuates the intelligence and language depends on the ontological point of view. According to Matjaz Potrc it is “Truth, as well, is not objective for them and it rather depends upon the epistemic powers of assertion.” (Potrc,(n.d)).
George Santayana is the author of this quote. Through these quotes he indirectly shows the reality of the religion. Religion keeps morality and it does not support superstitions. Religion and morality are not different things but intertwined. Superstition is something removed from the reality and it may include negative judgments of irrationality, childishness, or primitiveness, it is understandable of religious believers wouldn’t want their own faiths to be categorized with superstitions.” (Cline, 2009).
The two quotes point out one thing. To relate the first quote to the second quote, the first quote indicates that religion does not support superstitions, but on the other hand, it supports morality. A good religion should need materials like truth, morality and helping mentality etc. None of these relate to or can relate with superstitions. According to the second quote it indicates the relationship between rationality and religion. Rationality also believes in concepts like morality and truth. “There are a number of rationalist stories about the deliberative processes that underpin moral judgement and the norms which govern them, but for rationalist internalists, moral deliberation and judgment is essentially practical in focus.” (Morality, agency and mental time travel, (n.d)).
Religion supports morality, that is, it is a part of materialism. Materialists believe in human aspects and values.In a physical context, rationalists do not believe in religion and they rather support the belief in humanity. Humanity also includes morality, truth and ethics. From these two aspects it is clear that both religion and rationality exist for humanity. Both of them do not support superstitions. So rationalists unconsciously support the religion. Both of them are essential for the world. Physically both are at extreme end. In the case of morality both religion and rationalism share equal views.
From the given statement we can understand that the author is a materialist. Because through the given quotes George Santayana shows a reality. A materialist always believes in reality.
Reference
Cline, Austin. (2009). Religion vs. superstition: Is religion just organized superstition? Is superstition always religious. About.com: Agnosticism / Atheism. Web.
Morality, agency and mental time travel: Dual processing and Meta ethics. (n.d). Web.
Potrc, Matjaz. (n.d). Blobjectivism and pragmatism. Web.