Böcker av Charles Thomas Taylor

The philosophy of symbiosism designates the rational, and therefore universal, principles of human behavior for living together in peace, security, and happiness. The name has been coined by the author from the combination of three common terms: a prefix, "sym-," meaning "together"; a root and combining form, "bios," meaning "mode of life"; and a suffix, "-ism," meaning doctrine or adherence to a system of principles. The need for a common morality arises from the present ubiquitous condition and rapidly increasing awareness of mutual dependency among human beings. Symbiosism is synthesized from moral traditions of various religions and philosophies of both the West and the East and comprises four moral philosophies: the ethics of noninjury, utilitarianism, the ethics of magnanimity, and a new ethics fully developed from the ancient model of the Golden Rule that the author calls "reciprocitarianism." The author intends for symbiosism to serve as the moral foundation for the cultural and political unification of democratic societies throughout the world. Rather than attempting to introduce a new religious dogma or political platform, symbiosism represents a fresh and wholly rational approach to cultivating one''s personal ethics.

In Toward World Sovereignty, Taylor maintains that permanent world peace and the continuing progress of human evolution require that the nations of mankind come together soon to establish a single world democratic federal government. In the author's opinion, the increasing risk of human extinction that is directly associated with the relentless proliferation of nuclear weapons would appear to preclude any viable alternative considerations.

All of Charles Thomas Taylor's previous writings have attempted to reveal the universal rational foundation that undergirds all of the various ethical, political, and economic systems that best nurture human existence. With a latent recognition that the presence of symbolism in other areas of human concern, such as in religion or the fine arts, essentially communicates ethical value, Taylor presents his new book to consider the current relevance or irrelevance of religion and art for the ethical life.

In Ignes Fatui, Taylor examines various misapprehensions and misconceptions that interfere with clear rational thought. The primary objective of this book is to attempt to improve rational thought and thereby reverse the general decline of faith in the power of reason today.

In this book, Taylor argues that the traditional dissemination of moral values is now insufficient and inadequate. This deficiency requires a dramatic shift of the burden of this activity from the religious institutions to the public schools. Thus, Taylor proposes both a curriculum and a methodology for public moral education.