This translation of Santayana’s 1904 essay, “What is Aesthetics?” summarizes his classic The Sense of Beauty (1896). On Santayana’s view, aesthetics grows out of the whole of experience giving it a priority in understanding human life. Art and beauty, therefore, have their proper place in concrete human life. Guisppe Patella (Professor in the Department of Literature, Philosophy, and Art History, University of Rome Tor Vergata) provides an introduction and afterword that gives account of Santayana’s thought and situates the piece in the context of Santayana’s work.