Charles Taylor

Texts

     Philosophy & the Human Sciences: Philosophical Papers, vol. 2
     Philosophical Arguments

Who is Charles Taylor?

Charles Taylor is a professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University.  For many years he was a professor of social & political theory at Oxford University.  He is the author of many books, including a standard technical work on Hegel.  Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity is a famous book appealing to a general academic readership. 

Three features make Taylor an attractive choice for us.

 First, Taylor writes much of his work for a general academic audience, instead of for a highly specialized audience of philosophy professors or graduate students. Academic philosophic writing is highly allusive. Although Taylor does allude to both primary & secondary works, his allusions are illustrative. He does not allude to works merely to show his erudition. His work is highly readable and non-technical.
 The second attraction of Taylor's work has to do with his choice of popular & non-technical topics. In the works we will read, Taylor examines questions about language & social philosophy.
 Taylor is an important contemporary philosopher.

  #1: "Overcoming Epistemology"
  #2: "The Validity of Transcendental Arguments"
  #3: "Explanation & Practical Reason" (T. Kuhn)
  #4: "Heidegger & Wittgenstein"
  #5: "The Importance of Herder" (the linguistic turn; origins of language)
  #6: "Heidegger, Language, & Ecology" (perhaps the best essay
            in this collection)
  #7: "Irreducibly Social Goods" (liberal social theory)
      
      #8: skip this one
  #9: "To Follow a Rule" (Wittgenstein & pragmatic epistemology)
  #10: "Cross-Purposes: The Liberal--Communitarian Debate"
              (Bentham vs. Ed. Burke)
  #11: "Invoking Civil Society" (11, 13 & 12 are related; I prefer
             this order)
  #12: "The Politics of Recognition" (perhaps the 2nd best essay
              here)
  #13: "Liberal Politics & the Public Sphere

  #1: "Interpretation & the Sciences of Man"
  #3: "Social Theory as Practice"
  #4: "Understanding & Ethnocentricity"
  #6: "Foucault on Freedom & Truth"
  #10: "Legitimation Crisis?"

Links: 

• Charles Taylor Resources (Baylor U.)

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