William James’ conception of religion in Josiah Royce’s mature thought: three approaches

Abstract

A person who only reads Josiah Royce’s (1995 [1908]) The Philosophy of Loyalty and (2011 [1913]) The Problem of Christianity could easily assume that William James’ philosophy takes opposite views to Roycean ones on every fundamental issue with which they deal. Absolutism, on the Roycean hand, and individualism, on the Jamesian hand, are the labels that seems to articulate two contrary approaches to philosophy: the stress on the “eternal truths” and “the Community of Interpretation” within Royce’s approach, the emphasis on “provisional truths” and “individuals’ experience” for James’ view. However, consideration of Royce’s insightful works after James’ death challenges this assumption. After 1910 Royce acknowledges the unambiguous influence of James on his thought as well as the role of Jamesian philosophy for the development of his own idealism.