Bernard Bosanquet’s The Value and Destiny of the Individual is based on the Gifford Lectures which he delivered at the University of Edinburgh in 1912. The lectures examine the nature of individuality and selfhood, continuing an investigation which was begun in his Gifford Lectures of 1911, published under the title, The Principle of Individuality and Value. Together, the two series of lectures are also entitled Individuality and Destiny. The first series of lectures presents the thesis that the reality of all things depends upon their individuality. The second series examines how the transcendence of finite selfhood defines the value and destiny of the individual.

According to Bosanquet, finite being is an element of infinite being. All finite beings are included within Absolute Being. Insofar as finite being is a constituent of infinite being, finite being reveals the principle of infinity.

Bosanquet argues that the value of the finite being is defined by how it is related to Absolute Being. The value of the individual or finite self is the same as its destiny, in that the value of the self or individual is revealed by the contribution that the individual makes to Absolute Being.

Immediate experience is distinct for each finite self, i.e. no two selves have exactly the same form of personal experience. But form and content should not be confused in the interpretation of personal experience. While the form of personal experience is distinct for each individual, the content of personal experience may be communicated. Thus, the content of experience may be shared, or may become universal.

According to Bosanquet, individuality is determined by both the form and content of personal experience. Individuality is not merely a form of exclusive personal feeling. Individuality is related to a principle of universality. Individuality can be communicated, and its contents can become universal.

Bosanquet also says that impersonal feeling should not be confused with exclusive feeling. Impersonal feeling may be a feeling that the self belongs directly to a plurality, rather than a feeling that the self does not belong directly to a plurality.

Bosanquet argues that the individual self is least expressive of itself when it is most isolated from other selves or individuals. The self is most expressive of itself when it can share with other selves its qualities of feeling. Separateness from others is not the true meaning of individuality. True individuality is an identification with every other individual in the unity of Absolute Being.

The finite being is defined by both a principle of finiteness and the principle of infinity. Thus, the world of finite beings as they are in relation to each other is a World of Claims and Counter-Claims. The finite being is aware of itself as limited, but at the same time, its relations with other finite beings exist in the realm of infinity. The universe is not merely an aggregation of finite beings, but is a unity of infinite being. The spirit of the Absolute is within every finite being.

The World of Claims and Counter-Claims is a world of conflict and contradiction, but there is no such conflict or contradiction in the spiritual world. Finite beings are transformed into a unity in the spiritual world, where they are no longer in conflict with each other. In the spiritual world, finite beings no longer try to isolate themselves from each other. They share, rather than try to ignore, each other’s happiness and suffering.

The finiteness and limitations of the individual belong to the World of Claims and Counter-Claims. This world is also the world of appearances. The finite self sees itself as independent of other beings, and as external to the Absolute. The finite world is the world of apparent reality, but the spiritual world is the world of ultimate reality.

Bosanquet explains that good and evil are attributes belonging to the finite self. Good and evil are reconciled in the Absolute. Goodness is an aspect of perfection; thus, evil is overcome by the Absolute, which has all aspects of perfection.

Similarly, pleasure and pain are fundamental to the nature of the finite self. When the self transcends pleasure and pain, it affirms its unity with Absolute Being. The finite self can transcend itself by affirming its unity with the Absolute.

For Bosanquet, the Absolute is ultimate reality. The Absolute is more than an appearance, it is the fundamental reality upon which all appearances depend. The Absolute is infinitely and perfectly real. Every finite being is included within the reality of the Absolute. The finite or individual self achieves its value and destiny by becoming more fully unified with the Absolute.

The unification of the self with the Absolute is achieved when the self recognizes how its own individuality participates in the reality of the Absolute. Bosanquet concludes that self-recognition is possible through a religious consciousness by the self of the unity of the Absolute. The self transcends its own imperfection when it identifies itself by faith with the Absolute, which is the perfection of all Being.

All forms of incompleteness and imperfection are resolved by the completeness and perfection of the Absolute. The Absolute reconciles truth and error, good and evil, life and death, being and nothingness as belonging to the same unity. For Bosanquet, the Absolute is an eternal and perfect reality, and when the individual achieves unity with the Absolute, the finite selfhood of the individual becomes a consciousness of Being that reveals a principle of infinity.

Bosanquet’s Absolute Idealism is similar in many respects to that of F.H. Bradley. Like Bradley, Bosanquet sees the Absolute as a perfection of Being and as an all-inclusive reality. While Bradley says that the Absolute is real, and that it is not a self, Bosanquet says that the Absolute is real, and that it transcends selfhood. While Bradley says that the self is an appearance and not a reality, Bosanquet says that the self is an appearance and also a finite aspect of reality. For Bosanquet, the self has a finite reality which participates in the infinite reality of the Absolute.

Bosanquet, Bernard. The Value and Destiny of the Individual. London: MacMillan and Company, 1923.