# Josiah Royce — A Pluralistic Universe character guide

> Josiah Royce in A Pluralistic Universe by William James.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Royce, Professor Royce, continuity Royce, Lotze and Royce

**First appearance:** 0001-lecture-ii-monistic-idealism

## Snapshot

James's colleague and friendly adversary, the idealist whose loyalty to loyalty and truth-at-large James cites even while resisting his monism.

## Who they are

Royce appears in these lectures as a philosopher of continuity and absolute truth, quoted on 'loyalty to loyalty' and on truth at large as a momentous issue against the poor scraps of true particulars. He is also one of the combatants in the scandal of activity, excluding opponents with a grundsätzlich ausgeschlossen and reviewing Stout in the ongoing quarrel. James treats him with respect but keeps his distance, since Royce's absolutism is exactly the monistic position radical empiricism must answer.

## In the story

### [Lecture I: The Types of Philosophic Thinking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pluralistic_universe_se/chapters/lecture-i-the-types-of-philosophic-thinking)

Quoted as a 'gifted absolutist colleague' who describes the absolute as 'one luminously transparent conscious moment.'

### [Lecture III: Hegel and His Method](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pluralistic_universe_se/chapters/lecture-iii-hegel-and-his-method)

Royce's proof of the absolute by reductio ad absurdum is mentioned as an example of arguments framed on the Hegelian pattern, which James finds non-proven.

### [Lecture V: The Compounding of Consciousness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pluralistic_universe_se/chapters/lecture-v-the-compounding-of-consciousness)

James notes that Royce hears the voice of logic's veto but cannily ignores its utterances, aligning with Fechner and Hegel on the truer path.

### [Lecture VI: Bergson and His Critique of Intellectualism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pluralistic_universe_se/chapters/lecture-vi-bergson-and-his-critique-of-intellectualism)

Listed as another monistic successor who finds paradox in the relation of empirical data to their conditions.

### [Appendix B: The Experience of Activity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pluralistic_universe_se/chapters/appendix-b)

James quotes Royce's review of Stout's Analytic Psychology, agreeing with Royce that the inner nature of efficacy and activity are superficial problems, but disagreeing on separating efficacy from activity.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pluralistic_universe_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced for 'The World and the Individual' and 'The Spirit of Modern Philosophy'.

## Links

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