The Religious Aspect of Philosophy
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~180,000 words · 837 passages
Cite this work
- APAJosiah Royce. (n.d.). The Religious Aspect of Philosophy. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/josiah-royce/the-religious-aspect-of-philosophy
- MLAJosiah Royce. The Religious Aspect of Philosophy. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/josiah-royce/the-religious-aspect-of-philosophy.
- ChicagoJosiah Royce. The Religious Aspect of Philosophy. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/josiah-royce/the-religious-aspect-of-philosophy.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Royce's first major book, and the argument he is remembered for: that the mere fact that we can be mistaken requires a thought that holds both our judgement and the thing judged.
Context and history
Published in 1885. The reasoning runs thus: to call a belief false is to compare it with its real object, and that comparison has to take place somewhere; if there is no thought containing both, error is impossible. Since error exists, that thought exists. Royce was America's idealist and the lifelong interlocutor of William James, who disagreed with him; reading the two against each other is the best way to read either.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
philosophy tries to find out what it can about the real world. When it makes this effort, it has to be perfectly indifferent to consequences. It may not shudder or murmur if it comes upon unspeakably dreadful truths. If it finds nothing in the world but evil, it must still accept the truth, and must calmly state it without praise and without condemnation. Theoretic philosophy knows no passion save the pas¬ sion for truth, has no fear save the fear of error, cherishes no hope save the hope of theoretic success. But religious philosophy has other objects in addi¬ tion to these. Religious philosophy is indeed neither the foe nor the mistress of theoretic philosophy. Re¬ ligious philosophy dare not be in opposition to the truths that theory may have established. But over and above these truths it seeks something else. It seeks to know their value. It comes to the world with other interests, in addition to the purely theo¬ retic ones. It wants to know what in the world is worthy of worship as the good. It seeks not merely the truth, but the inspiring truth. It defines for it¬ self goodness, moral worth, and then it asks, What in this world is worth anything t Its demands in this regard are boundless. It will be content only with the best it can find. Having formulated for itself its ideal of worth, it asks at the outset: Is there then , anywhere in the universe , any real thing of Infinite Worth ? If this cannot be found, then