The philosophy of Josiah Royce (1855–1916) has recently begun
to regain attention; Griffin Trotter, in particular, has utilized Royce
in questions concerning medical ethics. This resurgence in attention is
for good reason—Royce's philosophies of loyalty and
community provide both a descriptively accurate picture of the self and
a prescriptively solid ethical system. Royce recognized, as do all
pragmatic philosophers, that persons only exist socially, and this
sociality will necessarily influence the individual ethically, but also
epistemologically. What we know, how we act, how we think we ought to
act are not individual questions, but rather questions that arise for
individuals only in the context of a larger community.