Individual Experience and Social Experience as Sources of Religious Insight
The Basic Writings of Josiah Royce, Volume II March 1, 2005 DOI: 10.5422/fordham/9780823224845.003.0010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that individual and social experience are sources of religious insight, and that interest in salvation arises from discovering both a highest end for human life and a natural danger of failing to attain it. Proposes that considering the religious meaning of social consciousness may help resolve the religious paradox and harmonize varieties of religious opinion. |
Abstract
This chapter addresses individual experience and social experiences as sources of religious insight. The essential conditions for discovering that man needs salvation are these: one must find that human life has some highest end; and one must also find that man, as he naturally is, is in great danger of failing to attain this supreme goal. If one discovers these two facts, then the quest for the salvation of man interests him, and is defined for him in genuinely empirical terms. To conceive the business of religion in this way connects religion with personal and practical interests and with the spirit of all serious endeavor. Meanwhile, society, in a certain sense, both includes and transcends the individual man. Perhaps, then, something can be done toward solving the problem of the religious paradox, and toward harmonizing the varieties of religious opinion, by considering the religious meaning of people's social consciousness.