Josiah Royce

Josiah Royce (born Nov. 20, 1855, Grass Valley, Calif., U.S.—died Sept. 14, 1916, Cambridge, Mass.) was a versatile Idealist philosopher and teacher whose emphasis on individuality and will, rather than intellect, strongly influenced 20th-century philosophy in the United States. As an engineering student at the University of California, Royce encountered the teachings of the geologist Joseph LeConte and the poet Edward Rowland Sill, and upon his graduation in 1875 he turned to philosophy. After studies...