# The Religious Aspect of Philosophy

THE
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF PHILOSOPHY
A CRITIQUE OF THE BASES OF CONDUCT AND OF FAITH
BY
JOSIAH ROYCE, Ph. D.
INSTRUCTOR IN PHILOSOPHY IN HARVARD COLLEGE
Der Anblick giebt den Engeln Stärke, Da Keiner Dich ergründen mag.
Goethe’s Faust, Prolog.
BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1887
Copyright, 1885, By JOSIAH ROYCE.
All rights reserved
SECOND EDITION.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge: Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company.
To
My honored Friend, GEORGE BUCHANAN COALE,
OF BALTIMORE,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK,
IN EARNEST AND GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF HIS KINDNESS, OF HIS COUNSEL, AND OF HIS WISDOM.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. :
| | | PAGE |
| Introduction; Religion as a Moral Code and as a Theory. | Introduction; Religion as a Moral Code and as a Theory. | 1 |
| I. | The Three Elements of Religion | 2 |
| II. | Relation of Religion and Philosophy | 4 |
| III. | The Essentials of Religious Doctrine | 6 |
| IV. | The Place of Skepticism in Religious Philosophy | 9 |
| BOOK I. THE SEARCH FOR A MORAL IDEAL. CHAPTER II. |||
| The General Ethical Problem | The General Ethical Problem | 17 |
| I. | The Priority of Ideals in Religious Philosophy | 18 |
| II. | The Fundamental Difficulty about all Ideals | 19 |
| CHAPTER III. |||
| The Warfare of the Moral Ideals | The Warfare of the Moral Ideals | 32 |
| I. | The Difficulty about the Ideal as it appears in Greek Thought | 34 |
| II. | The same Difficulty in Christian Morals | 39 |
| III. | Summary of the Difficulty thus far | 47 |
| IV. | The Difficulty as illustrated by the Doctrine of Conscience | 50 |
| V. | General Summary and Skeptical Result | 58 |
| CHAPTER IV. |||
| Altruism and Egoism in Certain Recent Discussions | Altruism and Egoism in Certain Recent Discussions | 61 |
| I. | Illustration of Certain Doctrines about the Nature of Altruism | 63 |
| II. | Is Altruism Disguised Selfishness? | 65 |
| III. | Inquiry as to the real Difference between Altruism and Selfishness | 66 |
| IV. | If Genuine Altruism cannot now be Disguised Selfishness, can Evolution explain the Relations of the two? | 74 |
| V. | Schopenhauer's Effort to define Altruism in Terms of the Emotion of Pity | 85 |
| VI. | Further Explanation of Schopenhauer's View | 89 |
| VII. | The Selfishness and Cruelty that often are the Result of Pity | 94 |
| VIII. | The Cruelty of the Happy, and the Selfishness associated with active Sympathy | 100 |
| IX. | Rejection of Pity as the Basis for a Distinction of Altruism and Egoism. Negative Result of the Chapter | 104 |
| CHAPTER V. |||
| Ethical Skepticism and Ethical Pessimism | Ethical Skepticism and Ethical Pessimism | 107 |
| I. | The Skeptical Motive in Pessimism | 108 |
| II. | The Skeptical Motive in the Romantic Pessimism of Modern Poetry | 110 |
| III. | Ethical Skepticism in Mr. Balfour's Statement of its Positions | 127 |
| CHAPTER VI. |||
| The Moral Insight | The Moral Insight | 131 |
| I. | The Meaning of Ethical Skepticism, and the Ideal consequently involved in it | 131 |
| II. | Answers to Objections | 141 |
| III. | Application to the Problem of Altruism | 146 ​ |
| IV. | Selfishness as Illusion | 149 |
| V. | Altruism as Insight | 166 |
| VI. | The Real Conflict of the Separate Ideals, and the Nature of the Moral Insight | 162 |
| CHAPTER VII. |||
| The Organization of Life | The Organization of Life | 171 |
| I. | The Duties of the First Class | 173 |
| II. | The Duties of the Second Class, in relation to Hedonism | 183 |
| III. | The Worth of the Individual | 195 |
| IV. | The Phases of Individualism | 201 |
| V. | The Universal Will as aiming at Organization. Definition of the Ideal | 211 |
| VI. | Passage to the Study of Reality | 218 |
| BOOK II. THE SEARCH FOR A RELIGIOUS TRUTH. CHAPTER VIII. |||
| The World of Doubt | The World of Doubt | 227 |
| I. | The Fundamental Difficulty concerning the External World. Temporary Postponement of the Discussion of this Difficulty. The World of the Powers | 228 |
| II. | The Popular Scientific Concept of the World and the Religious Insignificance of the Law of Evolution | 238 |
| III. | The Monistic Theories of the External World of the Powers. Metaphysical and Religious Difficulties of these Theories | 252 |
| IV. | Monism and the Problem of Evil | 264 |
| V. | Dualistic Theism in the World of the Powers, its Metaphysical and Religious Difficulties | 271 |
| VI. | Empirical Theism and the Design-Argument | 279 ​ |
| VII. | Religious Insignificance of the Design-Argument in the World of the Powers | 283 |
| VIII. | The World of the Powers as in itself Necessarily a World of Doubt | 286 |
| CHAPTER IX. |||
| The World of the Postulates | The World of the Postulates | 291 |
| I. | Postulates in Science and Religion | 292 |
| II. | The General Nature and Use of Postulates | 297 |
| III. | Postulates in the Notion of the External World | 299 |
| IV. | Psychological Analysis of the Postulates of Common Life. Beliefs in Relation to the Will | 305 |
| V. | The Postulates of Science Defined. The Religious Use of the Postulates. Transition to a Higher Point of View | 324 |
| CHAPTER X. |||
| Idealism | Idealism | 333 |
| I. | The General Nature and Religious Uses of Philosophical Idealism | 333 |
| II. | Idealism as an Hypothesis founded on Postulates. A Modification of the Berkeleyan Hypothesis stated | 337 |
| III. | Explanation and Justification of this Hypothesis, as Simple and Fair. Subordination of the Postulate of Causation to other Postulates. Criticism of the Notion of "Possible Experience" | 354 |
| IV. | Difficulty as to the Nature of Error, and Transition to Absolute Idealism. Religious Consequences anticipated | 370 |
| CHAPTER XI. |||
| The Possibility of Error | The Possibility of Error | 384 |
| I. | Sketch of the History of the Investigation | 386 |
| II. | The Doctrine of the Total Relativity of Truth and Error | 390 ​ |
| III. | The Problem of the Nature of Error stated | 396 |
| IV. | Psychological Aspect of the Problem | 402 |
| V. | The Problem in Case of Errors about one's Fellow-Beings | 406 |
| VI. | The Problem in Case of Errors about Matters of Experience | 417 |
| VII. | Summary and Solution of the Problem | 420 |
| VIII. | Answer to the Objection that views Error as barely Possible | 426 |
| IX. | Absolute Idealism as the Result of the Chapter | 431 |
| CHAPTER XII. |||
| The Religious Insight | The Religious Insight | 436 |
| I. | General Survey and Religious Aspect of Philosophical Idealism as stated in the previous Chapter | 437 |
| II. | The Doctrine of the Absolute Thought as Perfect | 441 |
| III. | The Problem of Evil | 449 |
| IV. | The World of the Postulates and the External World once more | 460 |
| V. | The Conception of Moral Progress | 464 |
| VI. | Practical Bearings of the Doctrine | 468 |
| Epilogue | Epilogue | 475 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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