The Ethics of Authenticity/Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition:
McCabe, David
BOOKS Taylor's significant horizons ccording to Charles THE ETHICS OF AUTHENTICITY But over time, argues Taylor,...
...But suggests, are constructed not monologiself which utterly neglected the importance Taylor is unwilling to go along with what cally but dialogically, in conversation to our identities of what he called "strong he sees as the knockers' blanket con- with my culture, my tradition, my peers, evaluations"-a shorthand term for the demnation of the rise of individualism, and and so on, and in devaluing these ties invarious ideals which, for each of us, make against them he maintains that moderni- dividualism further leads to a sense that life worth living...
...The bulk of the book, however, Taylor's chief concerns in his extended is devoted to the first malaise...
...left an indelible mark on the politics and ence...
...must face the possibility that between culturalism...
...How far do good works, ethnic or ity makes hard judgments even more difREVIEWERS socio-economic privation, or extraordi- ficult...
...For the Irish Americans...
...Here he covers some of Commonweal 12 February 1993: 19 the same ground as in Authenticity, the and both the "Right" and the "Left" come ing to the ideals you choose, it appears that major difference being that it contains a under his fire...
...litical career that saw him elected gover- ure in their annals," writes Beatty...
...For that alone, he merits Taylor astutely points out, is that judg- hand, I respect your right to live accord- our serious attention...
...he claimed, modern philosophy tends to sight of...
...worth listening to...
...other cultures to be as valuable as our own, The Life and Times of James Michael Thrice indicted, twice jailed, enshrined in less so, or more so...
...His goal in Sources, thenticity which can be traced back to inroads into overcoming the second then, was to show where moral philoso- Rousseau and Herder and which originally malaise as well, for he has shown by exphy had gone wrong and to make it more embodied the ideal of a higher life, ample that reasoned argument has a place responsive to our lives by restoring a premised on the possibility of a distinc- in discussions about values...
...He is also delight- are the limits of our toler- to overlook indiscretions of incumbent offully nonpartisan...
...But as Taylor forcefully aral confusion...
...change, these age-old questions are as ur- where shamrocks were carved into the JOHN E. McDONOUGH is a Democratic gent and difficult today as they were gen- shutters as Curley's way of thumbing his state representative from Boston...
...If we wish to restore clarity Princeton University Press, $14.95, 112 pp...
...as Curley's maid in his famous (or infapolitical philosophy at Northwestern Uni- Though the characters constantly mous) mansion on Boston's Jamaicaway, versity...
...gued that modern moral philosophy was with a value relativism that leads in- These horizons of significance, Taylor premised on a denuded conception of the evitably to a culture of narcissism...
...At a time dle ground between unreasonable boosters and the knockers of individual- in human history when the meaning of our extremes...
...what we ought to desire...
...he was IRVING MALIN teaches at City College in culture of Boston during a fifty-year po- a political and cultural hero, an axial figNew York...
...He also ofricher and more humane conception of the tion between what we actually desire and fers a glimmer of hope for the rather disself...
...Taylor be- essay "The Politics of Recognition" gins by connecting the onset of this exis- (which is published along with four corntential uncertainty with the rise of mentary essays...
...The horns of the dilemma are these: lives appears more problematic than ever strongest opponents, he points out that the If I sincerely believe that certain objec- before, we may be expected to feel that study of other cultures promises greater tive standards are binding upon me inde- even in our clearest moments of underunderstanding not only of those cultures pendent of my will, it follows that I will standing we do little more than see through but of our own as well...
...of authenticity was corrupted: the notion ical science at McGill of an external standard which we should University, modern MULTICULTURALISM AND 'THE POLITICS strive to live up to was replaced by the selfmoral philosophy, and much of moder- OF RECOGNITION' confirming, vacuous idea of choice as a nity itself, is in a state of deep conceptu- Charles Taylor good in itself...
...Though he is not a par- Oftentimes our judgment of a polititicularly memorable stylist, his writing here How far will we let our cian's behavior is compromised by the timis clear, direct, and refreshingly free of elected leaders go...
...He has written for the tor Jack Beatty examines them again in Like Beatty, I grew up in a household Atlantic Monthly, Social Policy, and Nuclear the case of James Michael Curley...
...As in the case of in- Curley (1874-1958) literature and film by Edwin O'Connor's dividualism, there is a need for external Jack Beatty The Last Hurrah, and tortured by personal standards when making cross-cultural Addison Wesley, $25, 571 pp...
...But he is skepti- be more inclined to hold you to these a glass, darkly...
...Atlantic Monthly edi- stood against him...
...in judgment of him-for most people he Much of what Taylor says in these two John E. McDonough was either the complete hero or the conworks is, I think, eminently reasonable and summate villain...
...Curley where Curley's name was held in reverTimes...
...If, on the other a bit less dim...
...thus, efforts go some way to making things seem worthy...
...topics is instructive, his comments about ma looming behind much of Taylor's ar- But we should not fault Taylor for failmulticulturalism in particular demon- gument which may ultimately doom any ing to resolve this dilemma, for it is not strate his knack for finding sensible mid- attempt to find middle ground between the his alone but belongs to our age...
...gues, this notion of choice as a good in itto our thinking both about ourselves and self, independent of external standards, our values in the modem age, says Taylor, David McCabe leads ultimately to a sense of meaningwe must clearly understand the course of lessness, for in order to feel that my choice intellectual history that has led to our cur- is genuinely significant, I must acknowlrent crisis...
...World Policy Institute specializing in SovietAmerican relations...
...While we should start from "a presumption of equal worth" when confronting other cultures, says Taylor, multiculturalism must allow that we may find THE RASCAL KING nor, mayor, congressman, and alderman...
...thus, the specter of islation recognizing the special status of is that it suggests the limitations inherent meaninglessness...
...As Taylor says, "Which iscording to its subtitle, "The Making of the Allan Bloom and Christopher Lasch) who sues are significant, I do not determine...
...It's been that way with Curley and nary charisma make up for one's mis- me-my mother worked for twelve years DAVID McCABE is a graduate student in deeds...
...Taylor cannot make that cal as well of the radical multicultural- standards and less likely to accept your ar- glass clear, for he is only human, but his ist's claim that all cultures are equally guments for failing to live up to them...
...El ments about the worth of any culture (our own included) ought to follow from our study of that culture...
...Against multiculturalism's ism...
...If Modern Identity...
...the radical multiculturalist, however, presupposes the an- A MUTED HURRAH swer which our study is, or ought to be, in search of...
...What ing of unflattering disclosures...
...erations ago in the times of Tammany Hall nose at Boston Brahmins and others who GEORGE PERKOVICH is a fellow of the and Teapot Dome...
...In the end, then, we French-speaking Quebeckers, and multi- in these traditional designations...
...ingly bleak prospects for healthy self- The value of opening ourselves to algovernment in the age of special-interest ternative conceptions is also one of politics...
...The problem with this view, as the threat to freedom...
...According to Taylor, the rise of Having explored in some depth the first exhibit deep confusion in its approach to individualism grew out of an ideal of au- malaise, Taylor claims to have made some moral problems...
...mal and fragmented state of contemporary In The Ethics of Authenticity, Taylor politics (the third malaise), suggesting again employs the method of historical re- that we must broaden our conception of construction, this time in order to account what the political process is about and must for what he calls the "three malaises" of I move beyond a model of adversary polimodernity: the widespread loss of mean- tics centering around individual rights, toing, the belief that there can be no reasoned ward a greater recognition of issues relating argument about values, and the increas- to the common good...
...And personal familiarsins...
...We tend philosophical jargon...
...Because it fails to ac- ty's emphasis on individualism embodies the self is isolated and, in the end, incount for the importance of these ideals, a valuable ideal which we should not lose significant...
...In Sources, Taylor ar- see the age of individualism as bound up I did, no issue would be significant...
...Though 20: 12 February 1993 Commonweal...
...But while I am largely sympathetic to these poles, there may simply be no midWhile his discussion of each of these his viewpoint, I suspect there is a dilem- dle ground...
...Indeed, one of the great in doing so I see your act of choice as itclose analysis of two practical issues: leg- virtues of Taylor's broad-minded approach self bestowing value...
...BOOKS Taylor's significant horizons ccording to Charles THE ETHICS OF AUTHENTICITY But over time, argues Taylor, this evalTaylor, professor of Charles Taylor uative element disappeared and the ideal philosophy and polit- Harvard University Press, $17.95, 142 pp...
...tragedy, Curley had no neutrals standing evaluations as well...
...his sights are set wide, ance of graft, demago- ficeholders that would never be tolerated guery, and other assorted with newcomers...
...Taylor's Sources of the Self individualism, consciously echoing themes edge a standard external to myself, a "hori(Harvard), published in 1989, attempted put forth by those he identifies as the zon of significance" against which I can to chart this history and to chronicle, ac- "knockers" of modernity (figures like be measured...
Vol. 120 • February 1993 • No. 3
