Educated Person Book

Josiah Royce And Classical American Philosophy

RIP, Frank Oppenheim (1925 -- April 3, 2020)

The late 19th -- early 20th Century has frequently been described as the golden age of American philosophy. It produced thinkers of the stature of Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey and the development of the distinctively American philosophy of pragmatism. But one great contemporary of Peirce, James, and Dewey, frequently does not get the attention accorded to his colleagues. Josiah Royce ( 1855- 1916) had a long, prolific philosophical career and he developed and debated his ideas tirelessly with his colleagues and friends, in particular with William James. But largely because of the idealistic, spiritual character of his thought, his work has suffered neglect compared to the work of his contemporaries.

Frank M. Oppenhiem, S.J. is Research Professor in the History of American Philosophy at Xavier University. He has published extensively on Royce, including studies on Royce's ethics and religious thought. Oppenheim's recent book "Reverence for the Relations of Life: Re-imagining Pragmatism via Josiah Royce's Interactions with Peirce, James, and Dewey" (2005) is a detailed study of Royce's work in the context of that of his philosophical colleagues. The book has two large goals. First, Oppenheim wants to resurrect Royce's thought and to show that it deserves sustained attention. Second, Oppenheim wants to show that the value of Royce's philosophy lies in its "central emphasis on the need and way to nurture communal consciousness cooperatively in genuine communities." For Oppenheim, Royce's thought constitutes "an urgently needed remedy for our contemporary America which suffers from its exaggerated individualism. Clearly Royce offers a message for Americans concerning genuine communities and authentic loyalty to them." (preface, p. xv) Royce developed a philosophy which attempted to balance the individualism of his friend William James with communitarian considerations. As Royce expressed it succinctly and poetically, he aimed towards the creation of a "beloved community" (a term that later was adopted in the thought of Dr. Martin Luther King), stressed the virtue of loyalty, and saw as a high exemplar of human character the person who has "fallen in love with the universe".

Oppenheim sees Royce as a theistically-centered thinker, and he focuses on the work of the philosopher's latter years, especially the "Problem of Christianity". Some readers, based simply on the title of this work may see Royce as a Christian apologist. But in fact, he is quite different. As a young man, Royce abandoned the evangelical Christianity of his family, and he did not become a member of a formal religious denomination. But he saw values in the Christianity of his youth and, more important, found elements in it which contributed to the formation of a distinctively religious, communitarian philosophy that was broader than and did not require allegiance to any creed. Although he is forthright about his own Christian commitment, Oppenheim is effective in presenting Royce in a nonsectarian manner.

Royce grew up in the rough-and-tumble world of mining in early California under the deep influence of his mother who, together with Peirce, James, and Dewey is one of the figures studied in this book. Early in his career, Royce wrote a still valuable history of the early days of California. Oppenheim uses this work well to establish the theme of his study. In it, Royce critiqued the driven, materialistic, self-centered world of miners and speculators and urged the development of a society based upon "reverence for the relations of life." By this Royce meant beginning with the value of life in the family and household, moving to the community, and ultimately moving to a wide world of all persons and a moving spirit. The concept of "reverence for the relations of life", Oppenheim argues, infuses all of Royce's subsequent thought. The emphasis on this concept also shapes the manner in which Oppenheim conducts his study. He does not offer the reader a detailed systematic exposition of Royce's thought. Instead, he views Royce's thought in relation, primarily, to the thinkers I have mentioned, Peirce, James, Dewey, and his pioneer mother.

In successive lengthy chapters of his study, Oppenheim examines the relationship between Royce and Peirce, James, and Dewey personally and philosophically. Oppenheim is at pains to show how Royce influenced and was influenced by each of his colleagues. And he compares and contrasts the views of the mature Royce with that of his colleagues in philosophical questions involving logic, ethics, metaphysics, communitarianism, and religion. I was pleased to note (because it confirmed my own sketchy thinking on these matters) that Oppenheim sees Royce's closest philosophical relationship to be that with Peirce. Late in his career, Royce was deeply influenced by Peirce's logic and, even more so, by his theory of signs and interpretation. Peirce's insight was and remains radical in its approach to interpretation as a human way of knowing over and above perception and conception. Oppenheim helped me understand the significance of interpretation and meaning to the thought of Royce and Peirce and the continuing importance of their insight into signs.

Oppenheim gives a great deal of space to the long personal and professional relationship between James and Royce. He clearly prefers Royce's communitarianism to James' individualism, and he prefers as well the primacy Royce gave to logic and to long-range consequences of ideas over James's experientialism. In the communitarian thought of John Dewey, Oppenheim finds many parallels with Royce and much to be learned. But Oppenheim again critiques Dewey for the "wall" he drew, beginning in his middle years, against any transcendentally spiritual component of human life; and he praises Royce's thought for its recognition of and openness to this component of human experience.

Oppenheim's book expects a great deal of its readers. This is a scholarly work that probably will appeal only to readers who already have at least a basic understanding of American thought at the turn of the century and of at least some of the philosophers who get discussed -- if not of Royce himself, then at least of James or Dewey. Because of the relational, comparative way in which Oppenheim presents his material, the basic explanations of the thought of Royce, Peirce, James, and Dewey tend to be rather eliptical and short. In addition, the expositionary material is scattered throughout the book as Oppenheim compares and contrasts Royce to others, further increasing the difficulty of following his account and leading to a substantial amount of repetition.

For all the difficulties of the book, Oppenheim has written a useful and impressive study. Oppenheim has shown me that Royce is, indeed, a thinker whose present day neglect is undeserved. I tend to agree with Oppenheim that Royce and Peirce represent one distinctive, logically-based approach to American pragmatism while James and Dewey represent a different, experientially based approach. Oppenheim has shown that there is much of value in both these approaches, and I tend to think he may be correct in arguing for an increased emphasis on Peirce and Royce. Oppenheim has written a thoughtful, detailed book about the development of American pragmatism, and he stresses carefully as well the spiritual component of this characteristically American school of thought.

Robin Friedman