Secularism and Freedom of Conscience

by Jocelyn Maclure, Charles Taylor, Jane Marie Todd (Translator)

Overview

Jocelyn Maclure and Charles Taylor provide a clearly reasoned, articulate account of the two main principles of secularism—equal respect, and freedom of conscience—and argue that in our religiously diverse, politically interconnected world, secularism, properly understood, may offer the only path to religious and philosophical freedom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674058651
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/24/2011
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Language:	French

About the Author

Jocelyn Maclure is Professeur agrégé de philosophie at Université Laval.

Charles Taylor is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University. Author of The Language Animal, Sources of the Self, The Ethics of Authenticity, and A Secular Age, he has received many honors, including the Templeton Prize, the Berggruen Prize, and membership in the Order of Canada.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: Secularism Today
Part 1: Secularism
1. Moral Pluralism, Neutrality, and Secularism
2. The Principles of Secularism
3. Regimes of Secularism
4. Public Sphere and Private Sphere
5. Religious Symbols and Rituals in the Public Space
6. Liberal-Pluralist Secularism: The Case of Quebec
Part 2: Freedom of Conscience
7. The Legal Obligation for Reasonable Accommodation
8. Are Religious Beliefs “Expensive Tastes”? Choices, Circumstances, and Individual Responsibility
9. The Subjective Conception of Freedom of Religion and the Individualization of Belief
10. Does the Legal Obligation for Accommodation Favor Religion? Religious and Secular Convictions of Conscience
11. The Reasonable Limits to Freedom of Conscience
Conclusion: The Future of Secularism
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Editorial Reviews

Charles Taylor and Jocelyn Maclure elucidate the "constitutive principles" of secularism in this brief, well-structured, carefully argued work of philosophical analysis...Taylor and Maclure have written a sophisticated conceptual analysis. Not everyone will agree with all of their pronouncements, but their work certainly enhances one's understanding of the meaning and nature of secularism.

Winnipeg Free Press - Graeme Voyer

This little book is a philosophical novella whose greatest virtue is that it may actually be read by both religious thinkers and academic philosophers—two audiences of slight interaction—and perhaps even ignite a sustained dialogue between them.

Philip S. Gorski

Taylor and Maclure have collaborated to present a clear, compelling and common-sense analysis of the vexed issue of church and state in contemporary politics. They commend a "liberal-pluralist" approach to cultural difference.

Dennis O'Brien

Taylor and Maclure have collaborated to present a clear, compelling and common-sense analysis of the vexed issue of church and state in contemporary politics. They commend a "liberal-pluralist" approach to cultural difference.
— Dennis O'Brien

America

Charles Taylor and Jocelyn Maclure elucidate the "constitutive principles" of secularism in this brief, well-structured, carefully argued work of philosophical analysis...Taylor and Maclure have written a sophisticated conceptual analysis. Not everyone will agree with all of their pronouncements, but their work certainly enhances one's understanding of the meaning and nature of secularism.
— Graeme Voyer

Winnipeg Free Press