William James’ Conception of Religion in Josiah Royce’s Mature Thought: Three Approaches

VIALE, CLAUDIO MARCELO

Pragmatism today

Central European Pragmatist Forum

Año: 2012

1338-2799

the aims of this paper are mainly three: firstly, to reconstruct James’ influence on Royce’s mature philosophy; secondly, to highlight a similarity between them: the initial distinction that both establish between religion and morality; finally, to support two hypotheses: first, to show that Royce’s criticisms of James are mistaken, i.e., that the problem between them relates not to individual vs. social religious experiences but to justification by faith alone vs. justification by works; second, to show why James’ developments are more fruitful starting from some of his positions in the Varieties. To carry out these aims I divide this article in four sections: first, I examine the direct influence of James on Royce’s “The Philosophy of William James and the Philosophy of Life” in section I (After James’ Death: Royce on James); then, I analyze how Royce interprets James in The Sources of Religious Insight in section II (Beyond James: SRI and Individual’s Religious Experience); after that, I refer to some aspects of The Problem of Christianity where Jamesian issues are taken in section III (Against James: PC and the Religion of Loyalty); fourthly, I develop my hypothesis in section IV (The Battle for Justification). Finally, I present some conclusions