Democracy and religious diversity

Lecture by Charles Taylor:

Western societies have developed into diversely pluralist societies with a multiplicity of spiritual and confessional tendencies. What were once confessional states in which only one church was officially recognised are now characterised by the wide array of their many different spiritual communities. Often, these changes have been driven by internal developments and increased individual freedom – developments which Taylor believes reflect the growth of a new “age of authenticity” – yet migration and contact with other cultures has also played its role, introducing new trains of thought and religions not previously associated with the West.

All of this means that the importance of the roles which Western states have traditionally adopted in religious matters has been changing. Instead of being able to continue to adhere to their established approaches to religion, more and more state structures now find themselves needing to try to find norms with which to manage societies in which spirituality, religious or otherwise, has become very diverse. In some cases remarkable progress has been made, however, other countries have been slow to take account of these changes, leading to negative and dangerous consequences.

Participants:

The evening’s speaker:

Charles Taylor is a professor of philosophy at McGill University, Montreal. One of the world’s leading scholars in the fields of political theory, moral philosophy and the philosophy of social science, his ideas have had a major impact on conceptualisations of how contemporary liberal states can manage the pluralities of their many religious and cultural communities. This lecture will coincide with the Spanish-language publication of one of his key works, A Secular Age (La era secular, Gedisa, 2014 – 2015).

Moderation was provided by:

Neus Torbisco is a lecturer in philosophy of law at the Pompeu Fabra University. She mainly works in the fields of moral, political and legal philosophy, as well as spending time looking at constitutional theory, human rights and gender and migration studies. She has made several research visits to Canada, where she worked on part of her PhD thesis under the supervision of Professor Will Kymlicka. After obtaining her doctoral degree, she worked abroad, teaching as a visiting lecturer at several universities, including Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario, the University of Puerto Rico and the University of New York. From 2007 to 2009, she was also an academic visitor at the London School of Economics and, from 2011 to 2012, a visiting lecturer at the Harvard Law School. Her most recent work, Multiculturalism, Identity Claims and Human Rights: From Politics to the Courts (Journal of Law Ethics of Human Rights, 2015), emerged this year.

Location:

Conferència de Charles Taylor

Les societats occidentals han viscut un procés creixent de pluralisme religiós i espiritual que es deu, en bona mesura, al desenvolupament de les llibertats individuals i també a les migracions. Tot això fa que el rol dels estats seculars a Occident hagi canviat radicalment: cada vegada més han de fer front a la gestió d’una societat en què l’espiritualitat, religiosa o no, és molt diversa. Alguns països occidentals han estat lents a adonar-se d’aquesta nova realitat, cosa que ha tingut conseqüències negatives i, a vegades, perilloses.

Charles Taylor és catedràtic de Filosofia de la Universitat McGill de Mont-real i un dels principals referents internacionals en l’àmbit de la teoria política, la filosofia moral i la filosofia de les ciències socials. Les seves reflexions han tingut un gran impacte a l’hora de concebre com l’Estat liberal contemporani pot articular la pluralitat de comunitats culturals i religioses que li són pròpies. La conferència coincidirà amb la publicació en llengua castellana d’una de les seves obres de referència, La era secular (Gedisa, 2014 – 2015).

Presentat per Neus Torbisco, Professora de Filosofia del Dret a la Universitat Pompeu Fabra. La seva recerca se centra en la filosofia moral, política i jurídica en general, així com en la teoria constitucional, els drets humans i els estudis de gènere i de les migracions. Ha fet diverses estades de recerca al Canadà, país on va desenvolupar part de la seva tesi doctoral sota la supervisió del professor Will Kymlicka. Des de l’obtenció del seu doctorat a la Universitat Pompeu Fabra l’any 2000, ha estat professora visitant en diverses universitats estrangeres, com ara la Queen’s University (Canadà), la Universitat de Puerto Rico i la Universitat de Nova York. Del 2007 al 2009, va ser Academic Visitor a la London School of Economics i, del 2011 al 2012, va ser professora visitant a la Harvard Law School.