Every idealist believes himself to have rational grounds for the faith that somewhere, and in some world, and at some time, the ideal will triumph, so that a survey, a divine synopsis of all time, somehow reveals the lesson of all sorrow, the meaning of all tragedy, the triumph of the spirit. But it is not ours to say, in the world in which we at present have to live from one day to another, and to follow the fortunes of (...) man from one newspaper to another,--when and how the true revelation of the world's meaning is faced and[ found. The Basic Writings of Josiah Royce, Vol. II, p. 1146.]. (shrink)

A paradox is a pair of incompatible statements, each of which is supported by what seem to be sound arguments. In the case of the paradox of the individual, the two conflicting statements arise out of two vastly different philosophical traditions, traditions so alien to each other in style and terminology that disputes between them are hardly ever sharp or clear. But when these two traditions have spoken of “the individual,” they have meant the same thing — viz. the moral (...) individual, the individual person — and have presented fairly clear, persuasive arguments for their points of view. Our main object here will be to elicit a clear expression of this paradox, and then we will consider a possible resolution. (shrink)