Extending west's analogy royce, mead, and american philosophy

Abstract

In The American Evasion of Philosophy Cornell West makes a comparison between the developments of European and classical American philosophies. Within West’s analogy, however, two important American figures are missing: Josiah Royce and George H. Mead. In the context of this framework, this article attempts to extend West’s analogy, speculating on the possible roles of Royce and Mead within it. The argumentation is developed in two parts: on the one hand, I show how secondary literature that considers Royce-Mead ties reproduces Meadean statements on Royce –mainly presented in “The Philosophies of Royce, James and Dewey in their American Setting” (1930); on the other hand, I show a schematic analysis of Meadean statements on Royce from a historic as well as a systematic pragmatist perspective.