Josiah Royce was undoubtedly one of the most interesting thinkers of classical American
philosophy in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. His works cover a wide range of
subjects from psychology and issues of social philosophy to metaphysics. Surrounded by
philosophers such as William James or Charles Sanders Peirce Royce developed a concept of
pragmatism which he himself called absolute pragmatism and which was centred around a theory of
community. The essays in this edited volume deal with this pragmatistic approach in his work
and discuss it from various points of view. Among other things they explore Royce's
relationship to German idealism the foundation of his ethics as well as his philosophical
doctrine of God and his philosophy of religion. This results in rather divergent assessments of
his philosophy each of which is evidence of the enduring relevance of his thinking for the
world of today.
