A Secular Age: Reflections on Charles Taylor′s Recent Book

Charles Taylor in A Secular Age describes the modern secular age as one in which ‘the eclipse of all goals beyond human flourishing … falls within the range of an imaginable life for masses of people’. This article reflects on his historico-analytic investigation of the emergence of modern secularit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sophia
Main Author: Crittenden, Paul James (Author)
Format: Electronic Review
Language:English
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Published: Springer Netherlands 2009
In: Sophia
Further subjects:B Book review
B Modern secularity
B Conditions of belief
B Exclusive humanism
B Human fulfilment
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Charles Taylor in A Secular Age describes the modern secular age as one in which ‘the eclipse of all goals beyond human flourishing … falls within the range of an imaginable life for masses of people’. This article reflects on his historico-analytic investigation of the emergence of modern secularity and his account of how it shapes the current conditions of belief. Taylor challenges the widespread presumption against belief mainly on ethical considerations, especially what counts as human fulfilment. The article argues that he fails to deal adequately with epistemic considerations bearing on belief and unbelief. Furthermore, his argument is weakened by a surprising absence of attention to the primary account of human fulfilment in Greek philosophy as a central element in the Christian tradition.
ISSN:1873-930X
Contains:Enthalten in: Sophia
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s11841-009-0124-5