Josiah Royce

The collection presents a variety of promising new directions in Royce scholarship from an international group of scholars, including historical reinterpretations, explorations of Royce's ethics of loyalty and religious philosophy, and contemporary applications of his ideas in psychology, the problem of reference, neo-pragmatism, and literary aesthetics.

JOSIAH ROYCE1 George Herbert Palmer Josiah Royce was one of the glories of three universities — California, Johns Hopkins, Harvard. ...

Herr Royce ist doch ein bedeutender Denker und darf nur als solcher behandelt werden.("Royce is an important thinker, and may only be treated as such.")Scholars of pragmatism and of phenomenology have observed striking similarities between Josiah Royce and Edmund Husserl, foundational thinkers at the origins of two major philosophical movements whose effects are still strongly felt in the present day—Royce being considered a central founder of American pragmatic idealism, and Husserl of modern German phenomenology. Other scholars have noted striking similarities (...) between Royce's thought and that of the broader circle of phenomenology.2Can we discover in these relations definitive historical influences, rather than .. (shrink)

Can concepts such as loyalty and integrity remain intrinsically valuable personal traits even as we devote ourselves to that which requires the loyalty in the first place (the greater good)? Does utilitarian deliberation rest on too extreme a notion of impartiality - one that focuses exclusively on the consequences of actions, leaving people, in the words of Bernard Williams, "mere faceless numbers"? Using the film Casablanca as an extended analogy, this article attempts to reconcile the concept of loyalty to a (...) cause, as described by Josiah Royce, with Williams's argument that personal integrity can remain part of even utilitarian thought processes. (shrink)

In Reconstruction in Philosophy, John Dewey argued that "the distinctive office, problems, and subjectmatter of philosophy grow out of stresses and strains in the community life in which a given form of philosophy arises, $\dots$" This dissertation attempts to locate the work of Charles Sanders Peirce, Josiah Royce, and John Dewey in a tradition of American philosophy which places work in philosophy in relation to its context in the life of the larger community. It is argued that this tradition harbors (...) a neglected, yet viable understanding of philosophy, and that a reconstructive approach can shed light on contemporary issues. The first chapter examines Dewey's call for reconstruction, his understanding of philosophy as criticism, and his theory of communication. Some problems with Dewey's instrumentalist language are examined. The second chapter attempts to trace the origins of the reconstructive view to Peirce's work in general and his theory of the community of inquiry in particular. The third chapter takes up Royce's theory of interpretation and of community as it appears in The Problem of Christianity. The fourth chapter examines developments of Royce's theory of community on writings on social concerns of his day, compares Royce's view with Dewey's, and examines some parallels between Royce's work and the sociological analysis of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann in The Social Construction of Reality. The fifth chapter attempts to use a reconstruction approach to sketch strategies for the problem of the unity of the academic community, cultural literacy as a condition for participation in community, and the responsibility of the professional to the community. The dissertation argues that Josiah Royce's theory of interpretation and community avoids certain problems inherent in Dewey's approach, and provides a better way to understand the relationships among the various projects of inquiry and interpretation which are sustained and supported by the community. (shrink)

One of the merits of Royce’s writings is that Royce has set his sights high. The expanded edition of Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American Problems, edited by Scott L. Pratt and Shannon Sullivan, is no exception to this rule. In pointing the way to “social salvation,” the shorter “Provincialism”—one of the essays added to the originals to form the expanded edition—captures the overarching purpose of the book and of much of Royce’s philosophy. The essays address different moral problems, but (...) they share the common goal of promoting what is arguably the highest ideal of civilized human life. Yet the republication of a philosophy book after an extended period of neglect raises the concern that .. (shrink)

In his final years, Josiah Royce worked to develop his theories of community and interpretation in practical directions. In particular, he developed an account of insurance as a special community of interpretation, and proposed the creation of an international board of insurance as a deterrent for war. Rather than evaluating Royce’s policy recommendations, this paper explores how his conception of insurance clarifies his account of interpretation. For Royce, insurance provides the best model for communal interpretation thus far because an insurer (...) seeks to prevent loss in the face of risky action, in addition to adjudicating between competing claims. This paper concludes with some reflections on how the problem of moral hazard can inform a Roycean conception of philosophy. (shrink)

Royce’s sustained interest in technical logic is beyond doubt. One of his first publications, which appeared while he was still teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, was a logic primer, and many of the productions of his later career were articles on logic. Indeed, it can well seem that Royce spent at least ten or eleven years working almost exclusively on logic following his attendance at Peirce’s 1898 Cambridge Conference Lectures, entitled Reasoning and the Logic of Things. During (...) this period he filled dozens of notebooks with minute explorations of Boolean functions and relations, investigating them mostly by using fourcircle Venn diagrams. Less obvious than Royce’s devotion to logic .. (shrink)

Infuses the first, highly acclaimed edition with new material that deepens our understanding of this distinguished American philosopher.