Charles Taylor

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McGill University, Montreal, he studied History, Philosophy and Political Science at McGill University, after which he obtained a PhD with a thesis supervised by Isaiah Berlin and Elizabeth Anscombe at Oxford University, where he eventually taught for several years. Charles Taylor is internationally recognised for his work on the modern state and the challenges it confronts when having to create a framework for its religious and cultural diversity, issues which he has approached by way of the communitarian perspective. A considerable part of his contributions in these areas is based on his involvement in debates on the political and cultural identity of Quebec. In recent years, his research has focused on studying of the role of religions in modern society. In this regard, he was president of the Bouchard – Taylor Commission (2008), which was tasked with advising the Government of Quebec on the measures necessary for granting entry to immigrants while ensuring respect for the cultural and religious diversity of new populations.

Notable among his publications are Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity (1989, published in Spanish as Las Fuentes del Yo: La Construcción de la Identidad Moderna, Paidós, 2006); Varieties of Religion Today: William James Revisited (2002, published in Spanish as Las Variedades de la Religión Hoy,Paidós, 2003); Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (1994, published in Spanish as El Multiculturalismo y la Política del Reconocimiento,Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003); Modern Social Imaginaries (2004, published in Spanish as Imaginarios Sociales Modernos, Paidós, 2006); and A Secular Age (2007, published in Spanish as La Era Secular,Gedisa, 2014-2015). Among the many prestigious awards he has received are the Kyoto and Templeton prizes.