Abstract
This paper provides a critical comparison of two leading exponents of the relationship between morality and selfhood: Charles Taylor and George Herbert Mead. Specifically, it seeks to provide an assessment of the contribution each approach is able to make to a social theory of morality that has the self at its heart. Ultimately, it is argued that Taylor’s phenomenological account neglects the significance of interaction and social relations in his conceptualisation of the relationship between morality and self, which undermines the capacity of his framework to explain how moral understandings and dialogic moral subjectivity develop in a world of shared meaning. I then argue that Mead’s pragmatist interactionist approach overcomes many of the flaws in Taylor’s framework, and offers a grounded conceptualisation of the relationship between self and morality that is able to provide a basis for a properly social account of moral subjectivity.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 516-533 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 Sept 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Keywords
- Charles Taylor
- George Herbert Mead
- moral self
- moral subjectivity
- morality
- social theory