The Relevance of Royce

Ten Enlightened Provincialism, Open-Ended Communities, and Loyalty-Loving Individuals

Josiah Royce offers a three-part progressive prescription for democratic cultural transformation: enlightened provincialism, open-ended communities, and loyalty-loving individuals. However, many forces and habits within American society and other nations and cultures to which we are closely linked by economy, communications media, productive and transportive technologies, and ways of living have profoundly antidemocratic implications. Nonetheless, with some critical modifications to reflect subsequent social and technological developments, Royce’s three-part prescription is both feasible and desirable—even necessary—in twenty-first-century America, if we are to preserve and more fully actualize our democracy, our distinctive communities, and our individual experiences of meaningful living.