Egotism in German Philosophy contains an extended critique of German metaphysics as found mainly in the works of Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Nietzsche. Writing during the First World War, Santayana viewed egotism, characterized by subjectivity in thought and wilfulness in morals, as the essence of German philosophy. Its authors, he claimed, shared and justified 'that spirit of uncompromising self-assertion and metaphysical conceit' which the German nation was at that time 'reducing to action.' Exhibiting Santayana's erudition and expressive power, Egotism in German Philosophy remains as stimulating today as when it was first published.