Charles Taylor's Self

Paper Summary:

This paper follows Taylor's "Sources of the Self" through Western philosophy's evolving understanding of the self. It explains how his "self" is viable enough to reconstitute community. However, this capability depends on a moral theory that transcends subjectivism.

From the Paper:

"Despite Charles Taylor thoughtful presentation of Sources of the Self (1989), he does not fully appreciate the current state of the fragmentation and disintegration of the self and the causes of such a self. This paper will follow Taylor in Western philosophy's evolving understanding of the self, until we reach the modern notion of what counts as a human agent. His criticism of the liberal notion of the "unencumbered" or atomistic self is decisive, but the contrasting idea of a self that is viable enough to participate in the activities of civic republicanism is burdened with problems. In short, it is difficult to see how the self of today is capable of re-constituting community."

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