In this collection of essays Professor Royce has presented the principles of his idealistic philosophy in their application to the problems of life. They show the author at his best in the sphere of concrete thought. His idealism is here essentially a philosophy of reality. He touches upon various themes, most of which bear upon the ethical aspects of life. His topics range from the problem of Job to modern character studies in the essays on Meister Eckhart and Jean Marie Guyau and such social problems as are suggested ...
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In this collection of essays Professor Royce has presented the principles of his idealistic philosophy in their application to the problems of life. They show the author at his best in the sphere of concrete thought. His idealism is here essentially a philosophy of reality. He touches upon various themes, most of which bear upon the ethical aspects of life. His topics range from the problem of Job to modern character studies in the essays on Meister Eckhart and Jean Marie Guyau and such social problems as are suggested by The Squatter Riot of 1850 in Sacramento . The several essays on consciousness and also the one entitled The Case of John Bunyan , must prove of special interest to the student of psychology; those who are interested especially in the mental experiences of the abnormal type will appreciate Professor Royce's exhaustive analysis of Bunyan's religious experience. -- Psychological Review , Volume 6
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That philosophy is a study remote from life is a criticism as old as the discipline. It is a charge leveled frequently at contemporary analytic philosophy, just as it was a charge leveled against its predecessors. In the last decade of the 19th century, the charge of irrelevance to life often was made against the philosophical idealism of the American thinker Josiah Royce (1855 - 1916). Royce's friend, the pragmatist William James, attacked Royce's commitment to a philosophical absolute on grounds that the absolute was redundant and did no philosophical work. The dispute between James and Royce became known as the battle of the absolute. Royce had also engaged in a lengthy debate with a California philosopher named George Howison. While an idealist himself, Howison had argued that Royce's belief in an all-encompassing absolute left no room for individuation or for individual moral action.
These criticisms stung. In answer to them, Royce published in 1898 this collection of twelve essays, "Studies of Good and Evil: A Series of Essays upon Problems of Philosophy and of Life." The essays had been written over the prior several years for different audiences and for different purposes. They explored widely varying issues. Still, Royce claimed in the introduction he wrote to the collection that the essays had the common theme of showing the value of idealism to the problems faced by people in crucial aspects of everyday life. Royce argued that each of the twelve essays were "directly or indirectly, contributions to the comprehension of the ethical aspects of the universe.". He wrote::
"If idealism means anything,it means a theory of the universe which simply must not be divorced from empirical considerations, or from the
business of life. It is not, as many have falsely supposed, a theory of the world founded merely upon a priori speculation,
and developed solely in the closet It is, and in its best historical representatives always has been, an effort to interpret the facts of life."
The essays show the breadth of Royce's studies and interests. They range from discussions of idealism to evolutionary science to the developing science of psychology. There are essays on literature, on the nature of creativity, on poets, theologians, mystics and philosophers. Each of the essays presupposes or explains an aspect of philosophical absolute idealism, which, as Royce stresses, is a varied as opposed to a monolithic approach to philosophizing. The essays are also mixed in their writing styles, depending on their themes and on the audiences for which they were written. Royce is often an eloquent writer but he is sometimes prolix and garrulous. For most readers, the most difficult, least convincing essays in this volume are those in the middle of the volume (essays V -- VIII) in which Royce argues from science, psychology, and logic in support of his idealistic claims. Royce is more effective when he uses his idealism and puts it to work in the remaining essays. Royce develops his idealism in opposition of philosophic naturalism which probably remains the dominant type of philosophy practiced today. In addition, Royce's idealism in this volume emphasizes human finitude and the limitations inherent in every individual's efforts to find truth. Royce's emphasis on finitude among other aspects of his thought are shared with existentialism.
The most famous essay in this volume, which sets the tone for what follows, is the opening work, "The Problem of Job", which raises the problem of evil which has long troubled both religious and idealistic philosophy. Royce explored the nature of evil in many works and he offered an original insight in this essay. Royce rejected some traditional answers to the problem of evil and argued that the problem as traditionally stated was based on the wrong assumption that God or the absolute was separate from the individual and created suffering and evil. Royce argued instead that God in the suffering individual were part of the same absolute being. He wrote:
"The answer to Job is : God is not in ultimate essence another being than yourself. He is the Absolute Being. You truly are one with God, part of his life. He is the very soul of your soul. And so, here is the first truth : When you suffer, your sufferings are God"8 sufferings, not his external
work, not his external penalty, not the fruit of his neglect, but identically his own personal woe. In you God
himself suffers, precisely as you do, and has all your concern in overcoming this grief."
Royce develops his position on the nature of evil and of suffering in the remainder of the essay and in the essays on literature and psychology which immediately follow.
Besides the essay on "The Problem of Job", another outstanding essay in this volume is on the great medieval German mystic and philosopher Meister Eckhart. Although written when studies of Eckhart were not far developed, Royce shows great understanding of this thinker. As philosophers tend to do, Royce expounds Eckhart in a way which emphasizes his commonalities with Royce's own idealism. Royce stresses the experiential character of Eckhart's philosophy, and he stresses as well how Eckhart's mysticism did not lead to the contemplation of a mere abstraction or absolute but required engagement with the world and with the everyday.
Royce's essay on the French philosopher, J.M Guyau offers a fascinating introduction to a thinker who differs markedly from Eckhart. Royce again stresses the elements his own thinking shares with Guyau. The final essay I will mention here shows Royce as a historian studying early California. His " An Episode of Early California Life: the Squatter" describes an 1850 incident involving a conflict over land titles. Royce uses the story to comment on the idealistic character of the United States and on how misplaced idealism leads to conflict. This message remains timely.
Royce's absolute idealism has long been out of favor philosophically. There remains much to be learned from its study and from Royce. If he did not establish idealism per se, Royce succeeded in this volume in reaching his aim to show that philosophy in general and idealism had bearings on life and on value. In that sense, the book offers an eloquent defense and exposition of Royce's idealism. Royce's "Studies of Good and Evil" will be of interest to readers with a serious interest in American philosophy and its history, philosophy of religion, or Royce. The book, together with many of Royce's other writings, is accessible online in a digitalization prepared and maintained under the auspices of the Josiah Royce Society.
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