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The Letters of Josiah Royce. Ed. with an titrod. by John Glendenning
696 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1970
3 people want to read
About the author
Josiah Royce
403 books37 followersLife
Royce, born in Grass Valley, California on November 20, 1855. He was the son of Josiah and Sarah Eleanor (Bayliss) Royce, whose families were recent English emigrants, and who sought their fortune in the westward movement of the American pioneers in 1849. He received the B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (which moved from Oakland to Berkeley during his matriculation) in 1875 where he later accepted an instructorship teaching English composition, literature, and rhetoric. After some time in Germany, where he studied with Hermann Lotze, the new Johns Hopkins University awarded him in 1878 one of its first four doctorates, in philosophy. At Johns Hopkins he taught a course on the history of German thought, which was “one of his chief interests” because he was able to give consideration to the philosophy of history.[1] After four years at the University of California, Berkeley, he went to Harvard in 1882 as a sabbatical replacement for William James, who was at once Royce's friend and philosophical antagonist. Royce's position at Harvard was made permanent in 1884 and he remained there until his death, September 14, 1916.
Historiography
Royce stands out starkly in the philosophical crowd because he was the only major American philosopher who spent a significant period of his life studying and writing history, specifically of the American West. “As one of the four giants in American philosophy of his time […] Royce overshadowed himself as historian, in both reputation and output” (Pomeroy, 2). During his first three years at Harvard, Royce taught many different subjects such as English composition, forensics, psychology and philosophy for other professors. Although he eventually settled into writing philosophy, his early adulthood was characterized by wide-ranging interests, during which he wrote a novel, investigated paranormal phenomena (as a skeptic), and published a significant body of literary criticism. Only as historian and philosopher did he distinguish himself. Royce spread himself too thin, however, and in 1888 suffered a nervous breakdown which required him to take a leave of absence from his duties.
Royce, born in Grass Valley, California on November 20, 1855. He was the son of Josiah and Sarah Eleanor (Bayliss) Royce, whose families were recent English emigrants, and who sought their fortune in the westward movement of the American pioneers in 1849. He received the B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (which moved from Oakland to Berkeley during his matriculation) in 1875 where he later accepted an instructorship teaching English composition, literature, and rhetoric. After some time in Germany, where he studied with Hermann Lotze, the new Johns Hopkins University awarded him in 1878 one of its first four doctorates, in philosophy. At Johns Hopkins he taught a course on the history of German thought, which was “one of his chief interests” because he was able to give consideration to the philosophy of history.[1] After four years at the University of California, Berkeley, he went to Harvard in 1882 as a sabbatical replacement for William James, who was at once Royce's friend and philosophical antagonist. Royce's position at Harvard was made permanent in 1884 and he remained there until his death, September 14, 1916.
Historiography
Royce stands out starkly in the philosophical crowd because he was the only major American philosopher who spent a significant period of his life studying and writing history, specifically of the American West. “As one of the four giants in American philosophy of his time […] Royce overshadowed himself as historian, in both reputation and output” (Pomeroy, 2). During his first three years at Harvard, Royce taught many different subjects such as English composition, forensics, psychology and philosophy for other professors. Although he eventually settled into writing philosophy, his early adulthood was characterized by wide-ranging interests, during which he wrote a novel, investigated paranormal phenomena (as a skeptic), and published a significant body of literary criticism. Only as historian and philosopher did he distinguish himself. Royce spread himself too thin, however, and in 1888 suffered a nervous breakdown which required him to take a leave of absence from his duties.
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February 29, 2020
Josiah Royce In Letters
Josiah Royce (1855 -- 1916) was an American idealist philosopher who taught and wrote during a time of great intellectual ferment in the United States. I have been studying Royce's books for some years but only recently turned to this book of Royce's correspondence, "The Letters of Josiah Royce" (1970) edited by John Clendenning. Clendenning is a former professor at the University of California, Northridge, and the author of what probably will remain the definitive biography of Royce: "The Life and Thought of Josiah Royce: Revised and Expanded Edition (The Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy)". Some important letters of Royce were discovered after the publication of this book and thus are not included in this volume.
Royce served in the philosophy department at Harvard which included his dear friend, William James and many other luminaries. He was also a great friend of the brilliant unaffiliated American thinker, Charles Peirce. Royce's absolute idealistic philosophy resulted in his eclipse for many years. A small but growing number of philosophers read Royce as an important, provocative thinker for his views on religion, community, and loyalty.
Clendenning's book begins with a forty-page introduction to Royce and his work. The book includes 483 of Royce's letters beginning in 1875, with his graduation from the University of California, and ending with a letter of June 14, 1916, three months before his death. In addition to the letters, the book includes brief biographies of each of the addressees of Royce's letters as well as various clarifying editorial notes. The letters are arranged chronologically in five parts with Clendenning's brief introduction to each. The first part covers the years 1875 -- 1882, with Royce's first appointment to Harvard. The second part covers Royce's first six years at Harvard, an extraordinarily productive period in terms of writing. In 1888, Royce suffered a nervous breakdown from overwork and recovered by taking a cruise to Australia. Part 3 of the book covers the years 1888 -- 1900 during which Royce attained great stature and wrote a large work of speculative philosophy, "The World and the Individual" based upon his Gifford Lectures in Aberdeen, Scotland. Part 4 of the book takes Royce through 1913, including his 1908 book, "The Philosophy of Loyalty" and, probably his greatest work, "The Problem of Christianity" of 1913. Part five covers the last three years of Royce's life and emphasizes Royce's strong support of Britain and France in the Great War and his condemnation of Germany.
Although he was reticent about his personal life, the letters offer great insight into Royce as a person and as a thinker. A careful reading of this book offers a good sense of the man. The letters show a gifted, driven individual who cared deeply about philosophy, the life of the mind, and the search for meaning. They also show a person who could be cantankerous and competitive at times and who was probably driven by academic and financial pressures to publish too much too quickly. Besides the 1888 breakdown, Royce had several other nervous health issues over the years probably resulting at least in part from stress and overwork. The letters offer as well an inside view of American academic and intellectual life from the 1880s to roughly the outbreak of WW I. The reader gets a feel for Harvard, in particular, and for the growth of American thinking during a lively, troubled period. Even during his lifetime, Royce came to be viewed as a man from an earlier time who had somehow got left behind. Much of this view was unjustified.
Among the parts of the book I most enjoyed were the letters dealing with Royce's early and still valuable book on the history of California. Although not a historian by training, Royce made the most of the opportunity that came his way to write on California's early history. He met several times with the legendary explorer (and first Republican presidential candidate) John Charles Fremont to discuss Fremont's controversial role in the early conquest of California. The letters show the thoroughness of Royce's research and of how Royce concluded that Fremont's activities had been less than praiseworthy.
I want to mention four individual letters that I thought particularly valuable. The first is Royce's letter to William James of May, 1888, while on his Australian voyage. Royce recounts a conversation with the ship captain who tells his famous passenger that he has moments when life seems only a dream and asks what Royce teaches his students at Harvard about this possibility. Royce replies with an anecdote from Mark Twain which he transforms to his own purposes: "I teach at Harvard that the world and the heavens, and the stars are all real, but not so damned real, you see."
In a letter of December 2, 1909 to Agnes Hocking (wife of the philosopher William Hocking), Royce offers a two-paragraph summary of his view of God and of God's relationship to individual, finite human lives. Royce's letter of November 16, 1910, to his future daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Randolph, Royce offers wise words about the search to find meaning and happiness in life. For the fourth letter, on March 20, 1916, Royce wrote to the distinguished early woman philosopher, Mary Whiton Calkins, praising her for her essay on Royce's "The Problem of Christianity" and for her insight and understanding of that book and its relationship to Royce's earlier work.
For those with an interest in Royce and in American thinking during the "golden age of American philosophy" these letters make fascinating reading. I learned a great deal about Royce from these letters. Professor Clendenning deserves gratitude for this excellent scholarly edition of the letters of Royce.
Robin Friedman
Josiah Royce (1855 -- 1916) was an American idealist philosopher who taught and wrote during a time of great intellectual ferment in the United States. I have been studying Royce's books for some years but only recently turned to this book of Royce's correspondence, "The Letters of Josiah Royce" (1970) edited by John Clendenning. Clendenning is a former professor at the University of California, Northridge, and the author of what probably will remain the definitive biography of Royce: "The Life and Thought of Josiah Royce: Revised and Expanded Edition (The Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy)". Some important letters of Royce were discovered after the publication of this book and thus are not included in this volume.
Royce served in the philosophy department at Harvard which included his dear friend, William James and many other luminaries. He was also a great friend of the brilliant unaffiliated American thinker, Charles Peirce. Royce's absolute idealistic philosophy resulted in his eclipse for many years. A small but growing number of philosophers read Royce as an important, provocative thinker for his views on religion, community, and loyalty.
Clendenning's book begins with a forty-page introduction to Royce and his work. The book includes 483 of Royce's letters beginning in 1875, with his graduation from the University of California, and ending with a letter of June 14, 1916, three months before his death. In addition to the letters, the book includes brief biographies of each of the addressees of Royce's letters as well as various clarifying editorial notes. The letters are arranged chronologically in five parts with Clendenning's brief introduction to each. The first part covers the years 1875 -- 1882, with Royce's first appointment to Harvard. The second part covers Royce's first six years at Harvard, an extraordinarily productive period in terms of writing. In 1888, Royce suffered a nervous breakdown from overwork and recovered by taking a cruise to Australia. Part 3 of the book covers the years 1888 -- 1900 during which Royce attained great stature and wrote a large work of speculative philosophy, "The World and the Individual" based upon his Gifford Lectures in Aberdeen, Scotland. Part 4 of the book takes Royce through 1913, including his 1908 book, "The Philosophy of Loyalty" and, probably his greatest work, "The Problem of Christianity" of 1913. Part five covers the last three years of Royce's life and emphasizes Royce's strong support of Britain and France in the Great War and his condemnation of Germany.
Although he was reticent about his personal life, the letters offer great insight into Royce as a person and as a thinker. A careful reading of this book offers a good sense of the man. The letters show a gifted, driven individual who cared deeply about philosophy, the life of the mind, and the search for meaning. They also show a person who could be cantankerous and competitive at times and who was probably driven by academic and financial pressures to publish too much too quickly. Besides the 1888 breakdown, Royce had several other nervous health issues over the years probably resulting at least in part from stress and overwork. The letters offer as well an inside view of American academic and intellectual life from the 1880s to roughly the outbreak of WW I. The reader gets a feel for Harvard, in particular, and for the growth of American thinking during a lively, troubled period. Even during his lifetime, Royce came to be viewed as a man from an earlier time who had somehow got left behind. Much of this view was unjustified.
Among the parts of the book I most enjoyed were the letters dealing with Royce's early and still valuable book on the history of California. Although not a historian by training, Royce made the most of the opportunity that came his way to write on California's early history. He met several times with the legendary explorer (and first Republican presidential candidate) John Charles Fremont to discuss Fremont's controversial role in the early conquest of California. The letters show the thoroughness of Royce's research and of how Royce concluded that Fremont's activities had been less than praiseworthy.
I want to mention four individual letters that I thought particularly valuable. The first is Royce's letter to William James of May, 1888, while on his Australian voyage. Royce recounts a conversation with the ship captain who tells his famous passenger that he has moments when life seems only a dream and asks what Royce teaches his students at Harvard about this possibility. Royce replies with an anecdote from Mark Twain which he transforms to his own purposes: "I teach at Harvard that the world and the heavens, and the stars are all real, but not so damned real, you see."
In a letter of December 2, 1909 to Agnes Hocking (wife of the philosopher William Hocking), Royce offers a two-paragraph summary of his view of God and of God's relationship to individual, finite human lives. Royce's letter of November 16, 1910, to his future daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Randolph, Royce offers wise words about the search to find meaning and happiness in life. For the fourth letter, on March 20, 1916, Royce wrote to the distinguished early woman philosopher, Mary Whiton Calkins, praising her for her essay on Royce's "The Problem of Christianity" and for her insight and understanding of that book and its relationship to Royce's earlier work.
For those with an interest in Royce and in American thinking during the "golden age of American philosophy" these letters make fascinating reading. I learned a great deal about Royce from these letters. Professor Clendenning deserves gratitude for this excellent scholarly edition of the letters of Royce.
Robin Friedman
Displaying 1 of 1 review