Modern Social Imaginaries

"A pleasingly crunchy essay." The Guardian "Charles Taylor presents a fundamental challenge to neo-liberal apologists for the new world order - but not only to them. Anyone who wishes, as I do, to defend trans-cultural political ideals, notions of development, or the like, will have to face his formidable array of hermeneutically inspired reflections on Western modernity's defining cultural formations. His particular take on the 'social imaginary' makes the strongest case there is for the idea of 'multiple modernities.'" Thomas McCarthy, Northwestern University Charles Taylor's new book continues his project of erudite investigations into the origins of the modern sense of self... The author's breadth of learning and humanistic disposition constitute a rare fusion of qualities in the current climate of intellectual warfare..." Montreal Book Review, "As always with Taylor, the writing is marked by erudition, elegance, and generosity of spirit. The book, while hardly mentioning Islam or other traditions, may be seen as a quietly understated thesis congruent with Samuel Huntington's more pointed reflections on 'the clash of civilizations.' " First Things