[MD] Philosophy and Philosophology

[John Carl]

Wow indeed.  There was one other fascinating detail about Royce's life that
resonated with Pirsig's thought.  Royce took a detour from philosophy, mid
career, into a fascination with the history of the
west.  He even wrote a couple of novels about the settlement of the west.
Royce came to be fascinated with the formation of community in the
context of the lessons
of the Victorian settlement of the frontier; and evidently produced a great
deal of criticism of the ways they went about this and how they produced
unnecessary conflicts with their attitudes.

I'd love to get ahold of those western novels.

Glad you caught my interest in Josiah, Ian.

John

On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 1:21 AM, Ian Glendinning
<ian.glendinning at gmail.com>wrote:

> And John, I couldn't help be struck by the Royce parallel's with Prsig
> in this biographical detail ...
>
> "After 1907 Royce's emphasis on the relevance of philosophy for living
> took on a clear personal dimension. In that year Christopher, who had
> come with Josiah and Katherine across the continent as a newborn 25
> years earlier, and who had graduated from Harvard at age 18, showed
> symptoms of severe depression and psychotic delusions. In 1908 his
> parents committed him to a state mental hospital with little hope that
> he would recover. In August of 1910 William James died, leaving Royce
> without his closest friend, neighbor and colleague. In September of
> the same year Christopher Royce died of typhoid fever, leaving Josiah
> and Katherine without their firstborn child. Royce had earlier stated
> his philosophy in a somewhat abstract and formal way, so that it might
> help him discover metaphysical truth. Perhaps under the weight of
> these later sorrows, Royce returned to his system seeking wisdom and
> understanding in addition to truth."
>
> Wow.
> Ian
>
> On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 9:54 AM, Ian
> Glendinning<ian.glendinning at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi John, tell us more about Royce.
> >
> > He's been "on my list" of US philosohers to follow-up ... I was
> > prompted to Google him in response to your note.
> >
> > Really intrigued by this quote in his introduction on SEP.
> >
> > "Royce's friendly but longstanding dispute with William James, known
> > as "The Battle of the Absolute," deeply influenced both philosophers'
> > thought. In his later works, Royce reconceived his metaphysics as an
> > "absolute pragmatism" grounded in semiotics. This view dispenses with
> > the Absolute Mind of previous idealism and instead characterizes
> > reality as a universe of ideas or signs which occur in a process of
> > being interpreted by an infinite community of minds. These minds, and
> > the community they constitute, may themselves be understood as signs.
> > Royce's ethics, philosophy of community, philosophy of religion, and
> > logic reflect this metaphysical position."
> >
> > As well as the semiotic angle, I'd be really interested how you see
> > this "absolute pragmatism" position in the context of the ongoing
> > "radical empiricism" debates here.
> >
> > Regards
> > Ian
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 1:46 AM, John Carl<ridgecoyote at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 4:17 AM, Andre Broersen <
> andrebroersen at gmail.com>wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> However,the resolution of these paradoxes allows us to reach a 'higher'
> >>> level of consciousness, a higher level of 'understanding', a higher
> level
> >>> of
> >>> awareness... by going deeper and realising that apparent contradictions
> in
> >>> fact, at this deeper level, complement eachother.
> >>
> >>
> >> And right there, in a nutshell is what attracts me to Josiah Royce's
> later
> >> thoughts on Philosophy of Loyalty and Philosophy of Community.  I think
> >> those two things, loyalty and community, hold the best answers for this
> >> "synthesis of apparent contradiction" is what brings about lasting
> quality
> >> in thought and word.
> >>
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