Charles Padron

Graduating with his MA and PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Charles Padron focused his studies on George Santayana, the Spanish-born American philosopher, poet and critic. Known for his pragmatic naturalism, insightful aphorisms, Santayana wrote the best-selling novel, The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel. Padron has widely published on the works of Santayana and has presented on “Santayana’s Scepticism and Animal Faith,” “Nascent Spirituality and Tragic Value in the Early Santayana,” “Santayana’s Notion of the Tragic,” and “Santayana’s Conscious Animality.” In addition to his membership in The Santayana Society and his contributions to its annual publication, Overheard in Seville, Charles Padron serves on the editorial board of Limbo, a journal named after Santayana’s “Dialogues In Limbo.” With a focus on exploring Santayana’s philosophy and literature, Limbo is published in his birthplace of Madrid, Spain. Charles Padron wrote about George Santayana for American Philosophers Before 1950, Vol. 270 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography (Gale Cengage, 2002) and “Under Any Sky: Contemporary Readings of George Santayana” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007). As well-versed in Spanish as he is in Santayana’s oeuvre, Charles Padron is currently working on the Spanish-to-English translation of Daniel Moreno's “Santayana Filosofo” (Santayana’s Philosophy”). Padron previously translated Julio Irazustra’s “Mis Conversaciones con Santayana” (“My Conversations with Santayana”) and published an excerpt in the 1997 issue of Overheard in Seville: the Bulletin of the Santayana Society. Charles Padron holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: English/Philosophy from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Charles Padron also completed coursework in Soviet studies from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., as well as in Spanish Literature, from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador. Charles Padron graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in European Cultural Studies from the American University of Paris after studying European history at Richmond University in London, England. Residing in Kansas City, Missouri, Charles Padron belongs to the American Philosophical Association.