The Ethics of Authenticity

Everywhere we hear talk of decline, of a world that was better once, perhaps 50 years ago, perhaps centuries ago, but certainly before modernity drew us along its dubious path. While some lament the slide of Western culture into relativism and nihilism and others celebrate the trend as a liberating progress, Charles Taylor calls on readers to face the moral and political crises of our time, and to make the most of modernity's challenges. At the heart of the modern malaise, according to most accounts, is the notion of self-fulfillment, which seems to render ineffective the whole tradition of common values and social commitment. Though Taylor recognizes the dangers associated with modernity's drive toward self realization, he is not as quick as others to dismiss it. He calls for a freeze on cultural pessimism. In a discussion of ideas and ideologies from Gail Sheehy to Friedrich Nietzsche, from Allan Bloom to Michel Foucault, Taylor separates the good from the harmful in the modern culture.