Secularization according to Charles Taylor Proposals for a Time of Synthesis that Relocates the Role of Religion in the Public Sphere

Abstract

After having focused for years on the study of the moral and historical foundations of Modernity, Charles Taylor delved into one of the key aspects of that identity: secularity or what he defines as “a secular era”. Taylor intends to analyze how it has gotten here in just five centuries and philosophically study the transition from a society in which it was practically impossible not to believe in God, to a society in which faith is just one more possibility among many others. His work The Secular Era is full of suggestions, in which historical, philosophical, moral and religious elements that have triggered today's society, characterized by secularism, are intertwined with great subtlety and drama. Secularization is a term that, for Taylor, is more a source of questions than explanations. It is a word that suggests more than defines. A word that refers, above all, to a change in belief and in the moral roots of the world and that allows not only to describe the problem but also to analyze the wide range of responses that have been given around it and which our Canadian hermeneutician carefully analyzes. Taylor affirms that with the advent of Modernity, the West has established the immanent framework with an almost exclusive character and everything determines us to live in impersonal orders, naturally, socially and ethically. This article aims to summarize Charles Taylor's Phenomenological Project who tries to rebuild modern identity towards a time of synthesis and delve into visions that explain the modern secular age from other perspectives and overcoming opposing visions with a view to relocating the role of religion in the public sphere.