Conception of God in the Later Royce

Dr. Jarvis kindly invited me to undertake this Foreword. According to his suggestion, I here intend to complement his work by creating a context for it. To do so, prior notice of a common misrepresentation of Royce and of his contemporary relevance seems needed, before briefly sketching his biography and interest in religion. Finally, to orient the reader to the present study, I will point out Royce's main works and the spirit of the man. In the year 2150 A. D. , what will people be saying about Harvard? If the reported prediction of a self -effacing William James comes true, the common answer will be, "e;Harvard? Oh, that's the place where Royce taught. "e; And yet, now that almost a century has passed since Royce began teaching at Harvard, most Americans do not recognize the name "e;Josiah Royce. "e; Of those who do, few know him as a significant American philosopher of community. And of these few, far fewer recall either that religious problems first drove Royce to philosophy or that he said such problems "e;of all human interests, deserve our best efforts and our utmost loyalty. "e; 1 Little wonder, then, that when Americans survey our "e;classic"e; philosophers-Peirce, James, Royce, Santayana, Dewey, Whitehead-few of them respond to Royce as the most explicitly and persistently religious philosopher of them all. Fortunately, however, popularity contests do not accurately weigh the merit of a philosopher.