Why the Return of Identity? Charles Taylor’s Critique of Modernity and Secularism

Abstract

The importance of Charles Taylor's ideas on identity is due to his introduction of the concept of identity from a contemporary practical perspective, taking into account the political conflicts that emerged about affiliations and identities after the 1980s without avoiding sensitive and fundamental issues that require a rethinking of how we shape our identities in a multicultural, multi-ethnic and religious world. This paper is an analysis of Taylor's broad criticism of the various ideas of identity that modernity developed during the previous period, particularly his argument that the "non-cultural perspective" of modernity has distorted modernity, misinterpreted secularism and the role of the State, and has not given the issue of multiculturalism the attention it deserves. This argument formed the basis of Taylor's alternative interpretation of the most important issue of postmodern philosophical thinking; namely, why religions and identities are returning to the world of today. The paper begins with Taylor's founding moral anthropology, and then moves on to the relationship between political identity and the modern state, as well as the relationship of identity to multiculturalism, and the disagreements that arose between religion and secularism in modernity and beyond. It ultimately provides a general picture of Taylor's concept of identity and its response to postmodern problems, particularly the bloating of utilitarian life, the rise of secularism and over-individualism.