Freedom of the dialogical self. A critical examination of Charles Taylor’s Political Philosophy

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation into the political philosophy of Charles Taylor considering his wider work on human nature and the distinctness of human agency. For Taylor, human beings are significant from other intelligent animals because we are motivated be the search for meaning in on our own lives, and in our relationship towards others. Taylor thinks that our dialogical identity, the fact that we depend on a human civilization and personal relationships to define who we are and what we think is meaningful, is an important insight to understand political life. His main criticism of classical and contemporary liberalism is that theorists operate with a flawed conception of human identity and agency, which neglects many goods that are important for us as political animals. Since how we understand ourselves is affected by our morality and dependence on others we should not always insist on imposing dictates of what we think is right. The fact that we depend on others is both a condition and a constraint on our liberty, and in Taylors work we find an unique attempt to bridge the gap between these considerations.