Identity And Recognition

The Western societies are in an era in which the muliticultural problem is becoming prominent. The problem of identity conflict and of the conflict between cultural groups and public authority has turned into an important issue of this era, about which people can't avoid thinking. Several strands of political philosophy of the Western societies proposed their own explanations for and ways of solving this problem from their own angles of view. Among them, liberalism and communitarianism are most influential. But in regard to this issue, we know well of the views of liberalism but little of those of communitarianism. So it's not in accord with the importance of communitarian views on the issue. Charles Taylor is one of the most important communitarian thinkers, and his"politics of recognition"is the most typical theory on the multicultural problem. The aim of this thesis is to make an exploration and interpretation on the rationality of this theory, in the contexts of communitarianism and"theory of recognition".This thesis contains three parts: Part one, on the social contexts of Taylor's"politics of recognition"; Party two, on the main contents of"politics of recognition"; Part three, on the rationality of"politics of recognition".The social contexts of"politics of recognition"contains two aspects: The first is the prominence of the multicultural phenomenon and identity conflict, which is embodied in the social conflict between the groups which are of different identities and in the conflict between them and public authority when they appeal to it. The second is the academic response of some strands of political philosophy to this problem. The thesis focuses on two strands that are most typical, namely liberalism and communitarianism. And according to this exploration, the practical and theoretical characteristics of the"politics of recognition"are illustrated.To show the meaning of"politics of recognition", it's necessary to examine two aspects: First, the theoretical origin of the conception"politics of recognition". Second, it's main contents"Politics of recognition"as a kind of thoughts, originated from Hegel. He...