Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 54:216 (Oct 1897)
Article: An Examination Of Royce’s “Religious Aspect Of Philosophy”
Author: Edwin Stutely Carr

BSac 54:216 (Oct 1897) p. 700

An Examination Of Royce’s “Religious Aspect Of Philosophy”1

Rev. Edwin Stutely Carr

This work was published several years since, and was somewhat extensively discussed at the time. The importance and abiding interest of the subject, and the unusually clear and thorough exposition of certain philosophical doctrines which are now considered new and fruitful, are my justification for the present article. Professor Royce’s graceful and popular style, clear without superficiality, enriched by the results of wide and varied reading, has placed him in the front rank of American writers in his department. His “Spirit of Modern Philosophy,” embodying the same general principles as the work we are to discuss, is used as a text-book in several courses in Harvard University. It is gratifying to the student of philosophy, wearied by the endless recounting of what other men have thought,—the stock in trade of the average philosophy-professor of to-day,—to find a man who has the courage to construct a system. An examination of the book will inform us whether the courage of the author or the prudence of his colleagues is the more commendable.

Part I. is concerned with “The Search for a Moral Ideal.” The mutually destructive warfare of all existing ethical standards leads to the adoption of a moral maxim which bears the ordinary marks of a compromise,—so far as it is

BSac 54:216 (Oct 1897) p. 701

clear, unsatisfactory to all parties; and so far as it is vague and ambiguous, the source of future strife. It is, “Act always in the light of the completest insight into all the aims that thy act is to affect” “The ideal means the will to direct my acts toward the attainment of universal harmony” (p. 141). The wished-for state of harmony suggests an Universal Will, obedience to which brings in the harmonious condition. When the man fell among thieves on the Jericho road, if the Samaritan, before relieving his necessities, had seated himself comfortably and begun to consider what influence his act would have in harmonizing the moral ideals of the Jew and the Samaritan, Greek, Roman, Persian, etc., history would probably never have recorded the case of this man as an example of successful charity. It is encouraging, however, to learn that there is an Universal Will, for a will may be expected to have some purpose and to do something, and there is sad need that something be done in the dreadful world unveiled to us in the second part.

Part II. is on “The Search for a Religious Truth.” All historical and existing systems of thought fall before the author’s critical onslaught, and a space as wide as the universe is speedily cleared for the erection of the...