Abstract

This dissertation examines what the author calls the Canadian social criticism component of the work of philosopher Charles Taylor. An internationally renowned scholar, Taylor's work has been much commented on. Yet there is an imbalance of attention in the reception of his work between the ample commentary pertaining to his more abstract philosophical thought, on the one hand, and the paucity of commentary concerning those aspects of his writing that carry more immediate practical relevance, i.e. his work in social criticism. After introducing a basic framework for 'interpretive social criticism', the dissertation proceeds to situate different aspects of Taylor's criticism within contemporary debates, including the topic areas of democratic decline, consumerism, national unity and egalitarian politics. At one level, each of the different chapters engages with and elaborates on a facet of Canada's common public culture. Yet the central objective in bringing them together in a single program of research is to contribute to our understanding of how this still incomplete culture and political identity can best be achieved. The guiding assumption behind the research is that this would require being faithful at once to the country's social democratic tradition and to its unique potential in reconciling ethnocultural, regional and linguistic diversity. The work of Charles Taylor, as interpreted in the following chapters, helps to demonstrate what this means in the context of specific issues and debates.