Ok it is lunch time and here, as promised are the main philosophical differences between Royce and James. I am relying completely upon the comprehensive introduction to the Philosophy of Josiah Royce by John K. Roth, Hackett Publishing, 1982.
James and Royce shared many ideas but were fundamentally at odds over three main points. I will also append my opinion as to which man more fundamentally agrees with the MoQ and why. 1) Royce was inclined to believe that man could know the basic structures of reality and human existence which are necessary to produce, explain and fulfill human experience. James emphasized the tentativeness of every philosophical claim and was forever leery of arguments that claimed to prove the ultimate structure of reality. My take is that Royce is more in line with the MoQ because Phaedrus put forth the maddening (to the academic confusionists) that even tho Quality was undefinable, YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS. This metaphysical certainty drives academics, whose livelihood depends upon relativism, crazy. 2) Royce believed that our experience of truth was only intelligible in the context of an Absolute - (Quality). James pragmatic theory of truth was formed in the face of this idealistic theory, offering an empirically grounded analysis of truth. My problem with James, is that of Pirsig's problem with the chaos of hypothesis. Which facts are you gonna select? Probably the ones that support your pre-existing opinions about "truth". 3) James took Royce's Absolute as unnecessary and a roadblock to man's moral striving and freedom. Here is where the tinge of religiosity doomed Royce to obscurity and James to prominence in the subsequent age of "if it feels good to me, then it has value". It was the urge of academia to cast off the theological determinism which had dominated thought for too long. Which I can sympathise, but has obviously gone too far, as reactions often do. This coincides with Pirsig's attempt to bring morality back into metaphysics. There. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to chewing for a while. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
