Modern Social Imaginaries (Public Planet)

By: Charles Taylor

Narrated by: Tim Lundeen

One of the most influential philosophers in the English-speaking world, Charles Taylor is internationally renowned for his contributions to political and moral theory, particularly to debates about identity formation, multiculturalism, secularism, and modernity. In Modern Social Imaginaries, Taylor continues his recent reflections on the theme of multiple modernities. To account for the differences among modernities, Taylor sets out his idea of the social imaginary, a broad understanding of the way a given people imagine their collective social life.

Retelling the history of Western modernity, Taylor traces the development of a distinct social imaginary. Animated by the idea of a moral order based on the mutual benefit of equal participants, the Western social imaginary is characterized by three key cultural forms - the economy, the public sphere, and self-governance. Taylor's account of these cultural formations provides a fresh perspective on how to read the specifics of Western modernity: how we came to imagine society primarily as an economy for exchanging goods and services to promote mutual prosperity, how we began to imagine the public sphere as a metaphorical place for deliberation and discussion among strangers on issues of mutual concern, and how we invented the idea of a self-governing people capable of secular "founding" acts without recourse to transcendent principles. Accessible in length and style, Modern Social Imaginaries offers a clear and concise framework for understanding the structure of modern life in the West and the different forms modernity has taken around the world.

©2004 Duke University Press (P)2013 Redwood Audiobooks

Important book, monotonous narration

The book is a clear and important account of the development of the modern sense of moral order. The narration, however, sounds almost as if it was done by a computer program and not a real person. The narrator also seems to not know how to properly pronounce some of the names (e.g., Weber should be pronounced “Veber”).

important Info

Ill start by saying i have been looking for this direct information 'not this book nessassarily'...but personally , I could see and felt this Idea of social Imaginary, was in play. I just didn't know how to describe it, personally - it's been about a Decade. t I then happened upon Charles Taylor one day to realize he had worked it out...

this Book is About, Literally the Title.... he is exactly correct. the social situations that are to come and that have been, these are what created and run our world... The People create and then Follow their Creations as a Brief tehy dont personally create them they life life and according to the social acceptence of denile things come and go... it would seem another name for this would be culture... but, it's not nessassarily culture... its a social creation and we all follow it... there are No rabbit holes in this Book... they are examples/ideas to point to the main idea...

example of Social Imaginary:
Money Systems (fiat or not)
Value (in general)
religion(in general)
holidays(in general)
Governments (world-wide)
ethics
language
manners
etc..
these are a, give and take. some general ideas


follow this book with his other here on Audible : "a secular life...."

this man has written Alot, he is a prominent Philosopher of our modern age... a "Dummy" is gonna have problems with following this information. it's very thorough and isn't thin, I have to read Charles Taylor's work a Few times just to make sure I haven't drowned in the Vast amount of info....
in the End though, he is correct... and IMO, those that can't see it... will create a social imaginary, so they can answer for what was just explained to them...lol

Not what I anticipated

Although there were many excellent points along the way, this book was difficult to follow structurally. It went down numerous rabbit trails, making it difficult to clearly see the central idea of each chapter.