Talk:Charles Taylor (philosopher)

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Contents 1 Comments 2 Exclusive humanism 3 Political stance 4 Catholicism 5 BA and MA from Oxford

[edit] Comments

Taylor is famous for his quickness of mind. He can reach a moronic conclusion faster that the rest of us dullards; qv., John Ralston Saul, and Jacques Derrida. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.81.135.88 (talk • contribs)

I erased some comments made in poor taste. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zakademic (talk • contribs)

[edit] Exclusive humanism

This article needs a few changes, I think. I don't have the time to do much, so I've just deleted this sentence: "His principal philosophical standpoint is that of "exclusive humanism"—a humanism without reference to the transcendent, especially as it relates to cultural, social, or political life." Taylor is actually a (Catholic) theist, although there's more to it than that. (See Stephen White's book "Sustaining Affirmation" for a discussion of Taylor's "weak ontology.")

The Hegelian aspects of his work deserve at least some mention; also, the pragmatic use of transcendental arguments. I'm not at all competent to say anything about his political career or his position on Québécois sovereignty, but those are interesting topics too.WadeMcR 06:34, 13 January 2006 (UTC)WadeMcR

The reference to Taylor's "exclusive humanism" is back again, apparently. His position needs at least a more nuanced treatment than this.--24.23.68.36 04:58, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Political stance

Something should be mentioned about his political stance (new philosophical communitarianism), beyond his NDP affiliation, his work with The New Left journal, as well as a reconsideration of considering him as an Analytic Philosopher as it's evident he is more influenced by Philosophical Hermeneutics (Gadamer/Heidegger) - as one can see from his disussion regarding horizons and prejudice - than with any Analytic philosopher. In all honesty, the only thing that strikes me as particularly analytic about Taylor is his clarity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.161.34.171 (talk • contribs)

Definitely he can't be considered an analytic philosopher. Certainly, he is cristal clear in his writings, but that is not enough (just as writing in english is not enough). He indulges in random free-associations (Quine's atomism showing political conservatism and viceversa), far-fetched speculation (considering continental-like ideas to have been in wittgenstein's mind though never explicited by him) and different subjects interweaving (as when science, surplus value exploitation and language structures get mixed in a single topic), three landmarks of continental philosophy. He has also criticised harshly (sometimes attacked) virtually everyone and everything (every topic) that is traditionally regarded as pertaining to APh. And, most important, his already mentioned devotion for most prominent continental philosophers, should make that category tag removed. YoungSpinoza 23:57, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Catholicism

After reading YoungSpinoza's comments, and noting that the mention of "exclusive humanism" remains, I decided that a simple way to clarify the issue would be to mention Taylor's Catholicism in the article. When I read the article, I came across the title of the book "A Catholic Modernity?" and was curious to read what an "exclusive humanist" (the monicker made me assume he was an atheist) had to say on this topic. A little googling later, and I find that Taylor is Catholic, and am left annoyed that a Wikipedia article on a Catholic with a book about Catholicism to his credit doesn't mention his denominational affiliation. So I put it in. The comment above about Taylor's "weak ontology" makes me suspect that Taylor's Catholicism may be the sort of complicated and nuanced thing that would lead some to recoil from having him described as Catholic without further qualification. If you're a wikipedian about to delete the "Roman Catholic" from the article for this reason, I'd appreciate it if you could take an alternate course of action: Instead of deleting the adjective, add a paragraph about the "weak ontology" or whatever it is that you think makes the adjective ambivalent. I lack the knowledge of Taylor to do this, but I'm sure that if someone could write such a paragraph, it would make interesting reading. Thanks. Rinne na dTrosc 21:37, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Looks like somebody deleted the "Catholic" part. Come to think of it, A Catholic Modernity? was missing from the list of Taylor's works for quite a while, until I added it. I wonder if anybody is going to have issues with the note about the Templeton Prize?--WadeMcR 06:05, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] BA and MA from Oxford

This just to note for the interests of those who make this page their responsibility: the page, on my reading, appears to imply that Taylor separately earned a BA and an MA from Oxford as degrees proper. This is not the case. As anyone familiar with the Oxbridge system will be able to confirm, Oxford and Cambridge offer terminal BAs to undergraduates which may then be subsequently upgraded to an MA following a period of X years given Y conditions (stuff like divorce, bankruptcy etc). This is why Taylor's full title is 'Taylor... BA MA...' not 'Taylor... BA BA MA'. I'm not sure what you'd care to do with this information (removing the notes which says he 'earned his MA in such-and-such a year' which is only in the vaguest sense accurate), just thought I'd pass it on. Best, Duncan.