Abbey Ruth (Ed.). Charles Taylor

Cambridge University Press, 2004. — 234 p.Charles Taylor is beyond question one of the most distinctive figures in the landscape of contemporary philosophy. In a time of increasing specialization, Taylor’s ability to contribute to philosophical conversations across a wide spectrum of ideas is distinctive and impressive. These areas include moral theory, theories of subjectivity, political theory, epistemology, hermeneutics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and aesthetics. His most recent writings have seen him branching into the study of religion. His attack on the narrowness and rigidity of much modern moral theory, his critique of the atomism and proceduralism of rights theory, his delineation of the new moral possibilities that have emerged with modernity, his analysis of the politics of recognition, and his insistence on the need for the social sciences to take self-interpretations into account in the explanation of behavior have placed him in direct engagement with current debates and lend his writings an immediacy and vitality.
Written by a team of international authorities, this collection will be read primarily by students and professionals in philosophy, political science, and religious studies, but will appeal to a broad swathe of professionals across the humanities and social sciences.
Ruth Abbey is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent.