Royce's Social Infinite: The Community of Interpretation,

John E. Smith's Study of Josiah Royce

"Royce's Social Infinite: the Community of Interpretation" (1950) is a scholarly book that brings together two important figures in American philosophy: the subject, Josiah Royce (1855 -- 1916) and the author John E. Smith (1921 -- 2009). The book offers the opportunity to get to know these two thinkers who are both still somewhat neglected.

Royce was an idealist philosopher who taught at Harvard for most of his career and was a colleague of the famous pragmatist, William James. With the rejection of idealism and the rise of analytic philosophy, Royce's thinking became marginalized early in the 20th century. Royce remained a secondary figure at best when Smith wrote his book in 1950. Royce remains understudied today, but a small and growing group of philosophers continue to study and learn from his work.

Although he was a young professor at Barnard College when he wrote "Royce's Social Infinite", John Smith taught at Yale for most of his long career. He wrote many books on American philosophy and on the philosophy of religion. The "New York Times" obituary for Smith dated December 22, 2009, noted that the philosopher "tackled large questions about the nature of truth from a pragmatic, pluralistic and specifically American perspective. Smith wanted to broaden the scope of philosophy beyond the prevailing analytic, linguistic approach". The "New York Times" obituary continues in describing Smith's role in mid-century American philosophy.

"During those years, when American philosophy was dominated by an aloof, ivory-tower approach, Professor Smith argued for a more democratic stance: the search for truth, he argued, was an inherently social, communitarian enterprise."

This early book offers the opportunity to learn about both Josiah Royce and John Smith. Royce wrote prolifically over his career and his idealism developed and changed with time. Smith's goal was to discuss three key aspects of Royce's philosophy that Smith believed had not been adequately addressed: "the theory of the community of interpretation, the debt to Charles Peirce's thought, particularly his logic, and finally the interpretation of Christianity." In the Preface to his study, Smith then explained the importance of these three aspects and their continued value to philosophical reflection. Smith wrote:

"Royce's debt to Peirce is not only important historically, but it provides as well an illustration of the important use to which the results of certain logical analyses may be put, and shows that although modern logic may often seem to be barren where synthetic philosophy is concerned it is not so necessarily. In some respects, as the body of this study will show, Royce's interpretation of Christianity is the most significant of all. Unfortunately it has often been believed that Royce only offered some idealistic substitute for traditional Christianity, as Santayana thought, and this, it may be added, has contributed to the neglect of his religious thought."

Smith is a careful, clear interpreter of Royce. He examines and analyzes texts, of Royce and his contemporaries, and is refreshingly modest in offering his own opinions. Approximately the first third of his study is devoted to "background" on Royce. Smith describes in detail, Royce's debt to Charles Peirce, and he explores how Royce's understanding of philosophical absolute idealism, community, and interpretation, changed and developed through works such as "The Religious Aspect of Philosophy" through Royce's most extensive statement of his idealism in "The World and the Individual". Smith's shows how Royce's earlier work changed gradually to emphasize community and interpretation beginning with "The Philosophy of Loyalty" (1908) and culminating in "The Problem of Christianity" (1913) which, according to Smith, had been neglected when Smith wrote.

Smith's book closely examines Royce's understanding of the nature and importance of interpretation, for both metaphysics and epistemology, his critical understanding of the nature of community, and of the "Beloved Community", and his discussion of how, in an age of science, Christianity could continue to be of importance. As did much of Royce's work, "The Problem of Christianity" was directed to showing the importance and relationships of science, ethics, and religion in a technological age. Royce tried to show the nature and value of community as opposed to a rampant individualism which tended to devour itself and other individuals.

Smith's study became a basic work for subsequent scholars and readers interested in Royce. In 2013, a latter Royce scholar, Professor Randall Auxier, published an ambitious book-length study, "Time, Will, and Purpose: Living Ideas from the Philosophy of Josiah Royce." Time, Will, and Purpose: Living Ideas from the Philosophy of Josiah Royce Auxier recognized the importance of Smith's book while arguing that it had been mistakenly read as a summation of Royce's entire philosophy. Auxier's book is a further interpretation of Royce which develops concepts and themes that he believes Smith did not fully address.

I learned a great deal from Auxier's book, but much remains to be learned from reading Smith as well. In its clarity, brevity, and themes, it enhanced both my appreciation of Royce and my view that there still remains a broad scope for philosophical thinking beyond analytical philosophy. Smith's book is out-of-print but is readily and inexpensively available as a used book. Readers with a serious interest in Royce, American philosophy, or the philosophy of religion will benefit from reading Smith's study.

Robin Friedman