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245 40 Abbot against Royce 12 November 1891 The Nation To the Editor of the Nation Sir: Dr. Francis Ellingwood Abbot makes substantially the following charges against Prof. Josiah Royce: (1) That Prof. Royce libelled Dr. Abbot, and that maliciously. (2) That Prof. Royce used unfair means to stifle Dr. Abbot’s reply. I propose to consider impartially what the verdict of students of philosophy ought to be regarding these public accusations against one of the most eminent of their number. The charge of libel has two specifications, viz: (1) That Prof. Royce warned the general public against Dr. Abbot as a blatant and ignorant pretender in philosophy. (2) That Prof. Royce accused Dr. Abbot of plagiarizing Hegel at second hand. From the point of view of propriety of conduct in a student of philosophy , the only adequate excuse for the first of these acts would be that the fact proclaimed was so unmistakable that there could be no two opinions about it on the part of men qualified by mature study to pass judgment on the merits of philosophical writers. In case the act were not so justified, the offence would be enormously aggravated if it were dictated by malice. The first question, then, is: Did Prof. Royce, as a matter of fact, so warn the public against Dr. Abbot? He certainly did, unequivocally and with full consciousness of what he was about; that is the unmistakable import of his whole article in the International Journal of Ethics for October, 1890. The next question is whether it is so plainly true that Dr. Abbot is a blatant and ignorant pretender in philosophy that it is impossible competent men should think otherwise? So far is that from being the case that philosophers of the highest standing, such men as Kirchheiss in Germany, Renouvier in France, and Seth in England, have drawn attention to the remarkable merit of his work. I am not personally intimate with Dr. Abbot, and am far from being a Writings of C. S. Peirce 1890–1892 246 partisan of his doctrines, but as an humble student of philosophy, endeavoring to form my estimations with the eye of truth, I recognize in him a profound student and a highly original philosopher, some of whose results are substantive additions to the treasury of thought; and I believe that the prevalent opinion among competent men would be that Prof. Royce’s warning is an unwarranted aspersion. Next, what excuse was there for such conduct, what motive prompted it? Prof. Royce and Dr. Abbot have their rival ways out of agnosticism. Both start from the same premises to come in the main (at least, so Royce says) to the same conclusion. Shall we say, then, that a passer-by cannot loiter near Dr. Abbot’s shop, attracted by the placard, “THE WAY AND THE TRUTH,” without Prof. Royce’s rushing out and shouting from across the street that he can offer the same article at a lower figure? No; for how far a spirit of rivalry may have influenced him no man can know, Prof. Royce least of all. Passing to the second specification, we ask: Did Prof. Royce accuse Dr. Abbot of plagiarizing Hegel? No; he only accused him of giving a maimed version of Hegel’s theory of universals, naïvely supposing it to be a product of his own brain. That was no libel in the sense now considered . But, says Dr. Abbot, I have stated so clearly the antithesis between Hegel’s view and mine that Prof. Royce cannot be sincere in saying they are identical. No matter; the more absurd the accusation, the less injurious; the less the truth, the less the libel. On this count Dr. Abbot is entirely in the wrong. Passing to the second charge, we ask whether Prof. Royce used unfair means to stifle Dr. Abbot’s reply? The ex-parte evidence indicates that he did contrive that Abbot’s reply should be first postponed (as postponed it was over two numbers of the quarterly), and at last, as the third quarter was drawing to a close, should be excluded; in which performances Dr. Adler, the editor-in-chief, does not appear as very strong in the practical department of ethics. Afterwards Prof. Royce, through a lawyer, threatened Dr. Abbot with legal proceedings if he published his proposed reply at all. All this would be abominable to the last degree in the case of...

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