Product Synopsis

The "Journal of Speculative Philosophy" (JSP), published from 1867 to 1893, was the first scholarly journal in the English language without a specific theological agenda. According to its founder and editor, William Torrey Harris of the St Louis Hegelians, one-third of the journal was devoted to philosophy, one-third to art and art history, and one-third to religion. Philosophy still being broadly defined, however, the journal also included articles on psychology and other social sciences. Early issues of the journal contained many translations of German and ancient Greek philosophy, especially the German idealists and Aristotle. The journal also contained commentaries on literature and music, especially the work of Shakespeare, Goethe, and Beethoven. Harris hoped that by making the best of ancient and modern thought accessible to American readers, he would promote the growth of an original and rigorous philosophy in the New World. The strategy worked, and the JSP provided a platform for the first publications of many leading American philosophers, including John Dewey, Josiah Royce, and G. Stanley Hall. Charles S. Peirce and William James also published several of their earliest essays in the JSP. This journal is an important source for various kinds of historical and philosophical research, yet it is hard to find outside the oldest libraries. Many of the articles reprinted here are absolutely crucial to the early development of "classical" American philosophy. The journal also included programmes for Bronson Alcott's Concord Summer School in Philosophy (1879-88), an important chapter in the development of American thought. In addition, the JSP was widely enough read that some debates that began in its pages spilled over into German philosophical journals and abstracts of its issues were published in French philosophical journals. Historians and philosophers should welcome this facsimile reprinting of the full 22 volume set, which comes with a new introduction by James A. Good.