Mapping Charles Taylor

Abstract

The extensive, profound and influential oeuvre of Charles Taylor has inspired generations of thinkers. But how can we explore such a body of work? As we try to show in this Special Issue: by understanding him literally and making use of his notion of moral maps – or, differently put, by ‘mapping’ Charles Taylor. As he is far too modest a person to reveal to us his own moral atlas, we have decided to seize the occasion of his 85th birthday to ask several of his renowned colleagues, students and interlocutors to contribute to the reconstruction of such a map. This introduction develops three ‘mountain ridges’ in this cartography – a philosophical anthropology in spatial terms, the indispensable motif of dialogue, and the role of political life –, around which the following 24 illuminating appraisals are grouped.

Toward a bridge theory of modernity: Seeing self and society as processes

“…Beginning in childhood we learn language through our movement in space, by understanding up and down, near and far, empty and full. By understanding our bodies in the world, we come to understand the concept of movement and direction, the concept of containment as well as interiority, and the concept of balance and standing upright among many others 5 (Bohmann, Keding, & Rosa, 2018) In what ways are selfhood and morality intertwined? Before answering that question, Taylor states that he is reluctant to define a person but poses a tentative definitiona person is an agent, that is, a person is capable, to some degree, of choice.…”

“…The expression of a problematic relationship to the world is historically established existential sensibilities as the cornerstones for a sociology of human relationships to the world. These sensibilities evolve over time as their coloring and refractive light affect persons across class, ethnicity, and cultures (Rosa, 2018). With the increase of recording capacity and new media, "time is beginning to lose its unilinear Orientation-giving character because the connection sequence in chronology appears to become progressively dissolving (2013,102) 8 .…”

“…Charles Taylor (1989) creates a historical narrative of the intertwined nature of self and society. An essential part of that narrative is understanding the moral topography 1 .…”

Resonans i höghastighetssamhället

“…Samtidigt riktar Rosa stark kritik och säger att det mesta av kritisk teori idag har blivit cynisk utan att ge motalternativ på det sätt som de tidiga klassiska teorierna med Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin eller Erich Fromm erbjöd. Resonansteorin bygger, vid sidan av den klassiska kritiska teorin, också i hög grad på den kanadensiska filosofen Charles Taylors arbeten (Bohmann, Keding & Rosa 2018) om vilken Rosa skrev sin avhandling. Även Axel Honneths teori om erkännande spelar en avgörande roll för att formulera ett positivt alternativ.…”

Quest for a Value Balance Between Determined and Created in Definition of Social Identity in the Philosophy of Pragmatism (Hans Joas’ Reception of Ideas of the Philosophy of Values)

“…Поєднання філософії прагматизму з аналітичною філософією демонструє творчий шлях американського філософа Ричарда Рорті [16]. Певною версією аналітичної філософії постає теологічна версія прагматизму, до якої близький канадський філософ Чарльз Тейлор, за свідченням його критиків [17]. Обох філософів єднає не лише прагматичне бачення завдань філософії, але й увага до соціальної проблематики, переосмислення класичних філософських проблем блага, справедливості під кутом зору потреб особистості, а саме завдяки зверненню до теми цінностей.…”