Commemorating Royce - Revisiting Th e Royce Festschrift

As we commemorate the centennial of Royce's death, it is valuable to remember earlier attempts to assess Royce's significance on commemorative occasions. This paper examines the 1915 "Papers in Honor of Josiah Royce on his Sixtieth Birthday" which formed the basis for a 1916 commemorative festschrift. I explore the background of the festschrift and offer guidance for approaching the papers by commenting on the festschrift paper of Morris Raphael Cohen. I examine the papers submitted by John Dewey, Mary Calkins, and Charles Bakewell and their relationships to one another. The paper suggests throughout the importance of biography in thinking about philosophical questions. I tie the papers by Dewey, Calkins, and Bakewell into current thinking about Royce. I argue that the broad outlines of their papers, based on voluntarism, personalism, and community, remain important for thinking about Royce during this commemorative year.