From Identity To Recognition

Charles Taylor is a well-known contemporary Canadian philosopher, known as main representative of Communitarianism. He has outstanding achievements in the fields of political philosophy, moral philosophy, study of Hegel’s philosophy, and modernity research. The identity occupies an important position in the Charles Taylor philosophy, and it serves as the starting point for a renewed understanding of modernity. It links the anthropological ontology of Charles Taylor and the practice of his ideas together with his political philosophy. Charles Taylor systematically investigated the formation history of the modern identity from a philosophical point in the form of the history of ideas. In his view, the historical process of modernity produced two major modern identity concepts. One is the “subjective self” identity concept, and the other is the " authenticity self" identity concept. However, the former excessive "expansion" and "animation" has led to the latter’s "hide" and "bury" with intrinsic moral vision, so that the identity crisis of modern people is produced, and then with the emergence of human alienation and community "separatist." To solve this problem, Charles Taylor proposed the Theory of Recognition characterized by dialogue and communication, hoping that the human, in the dilemma of modernity, resorts to "The Ethics of Authenticity", philosophy of language, moral philosophy and other resources, to promote and achieve fusion of horizons of different cultures, and thus to achieve the equal recognition and mutual recognition between different individuals, between individuals and groups, and between groups and communities. Charles Taylor expresses and shows the indispensable community and self-identity by western individual members how to construct the common Social Imagines that belongs to the community, looking for situation for the recognition. Paper titled as "From Identity to Recognition----Research on Charles Taylor’s Theory of Recognition") performs the overall systematic study of his thought, grasps the formation mechanism of his thought, shows the inherent logic from the identity to recognition, and makes connections among Self-identity,View of Freedom,View of Language,Human Agency,Moral ontology,Polities of recognition, civil society, public sphere, Secularization, and religious belief aspects, in order to provide a complete thought context. On this basis, to systematically summarize and explain profound implication of Theory of Recognition. We found that Theory of Recognition is a Theoretical attempt that Charles Taylor makes to unify autonomy and expression of people. Its theoretical and practical purpose is to achieve community and human freedom. It attempts to provide a possible theoretical ideas for human to come out of the crisis of modernity and restore the richness, depth, a sense of belonging of life, and meaningful community. It shows new vision for barren and lack of modern morality and people’s "spiritual home". At the same time, we analysis Charles Taylor’s Theory of Recognition under the visual field of western theory and explore its significance and inspiration for China’s modernization.