- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgements
- Preface to the Fordham University Press Edition
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chronology
- Bibliographic Abbreviations
- Editor's Note on the Text
-
Part I An Autobiographical Sketch -
1 Words of Professor Royce at the Walton Hotel at Philadelphia December 29,1915 -
Part II The American Context -
2 The Struggle for Order: Self-Government, Good-Humor and Violence in the Mines -
3 An Episode of Early California Life: The Squatter Riot of 1850 in Sacramento -
4 The Settlers at Oakfield Creek -
5 The Pacific Coast: A Psychological Study of the Relations of Climate and Civilization -
6 William James and the Philosophy of Life -
Part III The European Background -
7 Shelley and the Revolution -
8 Pessimism and Modern Thought -
9 The Rediscovery of the Inner Life: From Spinoza to Kant -
10 The Concept of the Absolute and the Dialectical Method - Part IV Religious Questions
-
11 The Possibility of Error -
12 The Conception of God Address by Professor Royce -
13 Immortality -
14 Monotheism - Part V The World and the Individual
-
15 Self-Consciousness, Social Consciousness and Nature -
16 The Religious Problems and the Theory of Being -
17 The Internal and External Meaning of Ideas -
18 The Fourth Conception of Being -
19 The Linkage of Facts -
20 The Temporal and the Eternal - American Philosophy Series Douglas R. Anderson and Jude Jones, series editors
Pessimism and Modern Thought
Pessimism and Modern Thought
- Chapter:
- (p.249) 8 Pessimism and Modern Thought
- Source:
- The Basic Writings of Josiah Royce, Volume I
- Author(s):
- John J. McDermott
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
The problem of the worth of life is often regarded as one that the healthy have no wish to discuss, and the unhealthy no right to decide. However, reflective beings must sooner or later to consider the worth of conscious life; for self-criticism is an essential part of all mental growth. But as every new step in critical thought is made by means of a negative criticism of old positions, the question of the worth of life must distinctly appear for the first time in the form of what is inexactly called pessimistic doubt about human life. This chapter considers the doctrine popularly named pessimism, which believes that evil is on the whole triumphant. The ultimate aim of the discussion is to present some thoughts on the method of estimating the worth of human life.
Keywords: pessimism, evil, human life, Josiah Royce, worth of life
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgements
- Preface to the Fordham University Press Edition
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chronology
- Bibliographic Abbreviations
- Editor's Note on the Text
-
Part I An Autobiographical Sketch -
1 Words of Professor Royce at the Walton Hotel at Philadelphia December 29,1915 -
Part II The American Context -
2 The Struggle for Order: Self-Government, Good-Humor and Violence in the Mines -
3 An Episode of Early California Life: The Squatter Riot of 1850 in Sacramento -
4 The Settlers at Oakfield Creek -
5 The Pacific Coast: A Psychological Study of the Relations of Climate and Civilization -
6 William James and the Philosophy of Life -
Part III The European Background -
7 Shelley and the Revolution -
8 Pessimism and Modern Thought -
9 The Rediscovery of the Inner Life: From Spinoza to Kant -
10 The Concept of the Absolute and the Dialectical Method - Part IV Religious Questions
-
11 The Possibility of Error -
12 The Conception of God Address by Professor Royce -
13 Immortality -
14 Monotheism - Part V The World and the Individual
-
15 Self-Consciousness, Social Consciousness and Nature -
16 The Religious Problems and the Theory of Being -
17 The Internal and External Meaning of Ideas -
18 The Fourth Conception of Being -
19 The Linkage of Facts -
20 The Temporal and the Eternal - American Philosophy Series Douglas R. Anderson and Jude Jones, series editors