The political praxis of Charles Taylor
Date
1999
Authors
Lancaster, Michael Martin
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Abstract
Charles Taylor is recognized as one of the world's leading philosophers, but his philosophy is generally considered in abstraction from his political actions in Canada. Taylor the philosopher is also a Canadian social democrat from Montreal. He has been an important figure, both in the politics of the Canadian left and in the politics of Anglo-French relations in Quebec (and Canada generally). Reading Taylor's philosophical works together with his political works enables a different reading of both. This thesis examines Taylor's political writings during two phases of his career as an activist -- in the NDP between 1961 and 1975, and in the debates over the future of Quebec since 1979 -- and it compares the themes that emerge in his "activist" writing with the ones that he developed in his philosophical work over the same period. As becomes clear, the themes are not only similar, but their meaning becomes more apparent when read across the divide between philosophy and political activism. Taylor is not well interpreted as an American communitarian. On the other hand, the limitations of his political vision become more apparent, once we understand that vision as an effort to understand Canada in neo-Hegelian terms.