Risuto
Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity

Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity

by Charles Margrave Taylor

Published for the first time: 1/1/1989

624 pages, Paperback

Genres: Psychology, Sociology, History, Politics, Nonfiction, Religion, Philosophy

In this extensive inquiry into the sources of modern selfhood, Charles Taylor demonstrates just how rich and precious those resources are. The modern turn to subjectivity, with its attendant rejection of an objective order of reason, has led—it seems to many—to mere subjectivism at the mildest and to sheer nihilism at the worst. Many critics believe that the modern order has no moral backbone and has proved corrosive to all that might foster human good. Taylor rejects this view. He argues that, properly understood, our modern notion of the self provides a framework that more than compensates for the abandonment of substantive notions of rationality.The major insight of Sources of the Self is that modern subjectivity, in all its epistemological, aesthetic, and political ramifications, has its roots in ideas of human good. After first arguing that contemporary philosophers have ignored how self and good connect, the author defines the modern identity by describing its genesis. His effort to uncover and map our moral sources leads to novel interpretations of most of the figures and movements in the modern tradition. Taylor shows that the modern turn inward is not disastrous but is in fact the result of our long efforts to define and reach the good. At the heart of this definition he finds what he calls the affirmation of ordinary life, a value which has decisively if not completely replaced an older conception of reason as connected to a hierarchy based on birth and wealth. In telling the story of a revolution whose proponents have been Augustine, Montaigne, Luther, and a host of others, Taylor's goal is in part to make sure we do not lose sight of their goal and endanger all that has been achieved. Sources of the Self provides a decisive defense of the modern order and a sharp rebuff to its critics.

🤓 Related books

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

Eric Hoffer

Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

George Lakoff

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

Christopher H. Achen

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody

Helen Pluckrose

Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda

Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda

Noam Chomsky

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity

Douglas Murray

The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam

The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam

Douglas Murray

A Secular Age

A Secular Age

Charles Margrave Taylor

The Revolt of the Masses

The Revolt of the Masses

José Ortega y Gasset

Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals

Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals

John Gray

One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society

Herbert Marcuse

The Human Condition

The Human Condition

Hannah Arendt

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

Michael J. Sandel

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Michel Foucault

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

Barbara Ehrenreich

Propaganda

Propaganda

Edward L. Bernays

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Steven Pinker

سيكولوجية الجماهير

سيكولوجية الجماهير

Gustave Le Bon

Escape from Freedom

Escape from Freedom

Erich Fromm

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

Steven Pinker

Menti tribali. Perché le brave persone di dividono su politica e religione

Menti tribali. Perché le brave persone di dividono su politica e religione

Jonathan Haidt

Age of Anger: A History of the Present

Age of Anger: A History of the Present

Pankaj Mishra

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

Chris Hedges

Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power

Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power

Noam Chomsky

The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics

The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics

Mark Lilla

Liberalism and Its Discontents

Liberalism and Its Discontents

Francis Fukuyama

The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump

The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump

Michiko Kakutani

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Jeff Sharlet

On Revolution

On Revolution

Hannah Arendt

Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy

Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy

Jonah Goldberg

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!