Santayana was a philosopher at Harvard who also influenced the work of Lippmann. Santayana’s theories revolved around the idea of the essence of objects, which Munson (1962) defined as the
datum of intuition
(p. 8). Santayana was interested in uncovering the various essences that made up human life: those values which could be uncovered and then tied to human
experience (Steel, 1999). This outlook is a sharp contrast to the theories of James, which Lippmann had already been exposed to. Steel (1999) explained that while James focused on the idea of
moral relativism, or the ability to create truth from observation, Santayana was focusing on the search for absolute
moral values that could be reconciled with human experience
(p. 21).
Santayana’s influence on Lippmann is evident in his later work. Tied to Santayana’s ideas of the essence
of humanity and life, were his ideas that democracy could result in a
tyranny of the majority (Steel, 1999, p. 21). This idea is easily related to Lippmann's later writings in Phantom Public (1925). Phantom Public examines the American public within a democratic
system. Lippmann (1925) expresses his ideas that the majority of the American public is uneducated in public issues, easily manipulated into siding with the majority, and therefore, plays a
very limited role in the democratic process. In relation to democracy, Lippmann states, Thus the voter identified himself with the officials. He tried to think that their thoughts
were his thoughts, that their deeds were his deeds, and even in some mysterious way they were a part of him….It prevented democracy from arriving at a clear idea of its own limits and
attainable ends
(p. 148). Lippmann (1925) shows that within a democratic system the majority is actually suppressed by the minority opinion. It is this overwhelming suppression of the
public opinion within a democratic system that seems to represent Santayana’s influence on Lippmann. If Santanyana argued that democracy would result in a tyranny of the majority, Lippmann
(1925) supported this idea by showing that public opinion caused little influence on a democratic system that was actually controlled by the educated elite.
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