Expressive Individualism: Ethics of Authenticity Revisited

Charles Taylor is widely recognized as a leading philosopher in the fields of philosophy of culture, political philosophy and theory of secularization. Though Taylor is best known for his detailed and comprehensive studies, in 1991 he wrote a small book which succeeded in presenting a concise and insightful analysis of modern Western society: The Ethics of Authenticity, first published in Canada under the title The Malaise of Modernity. In that book, Taylor argues that although modern individualism tends to degenerate into relativism and loss of meaning, it also embodies a powerful moral ideal: the ideal of authenticity. The search for authenticity reveals the ‘expressive aspects’ of modern individualism, which according to Taylor require openness to horizons of significance and self-definition in dialogue, even if they frequently involve opposition against convention.

In The Ethics of Authenticity, Taylor analyzes cultural evolutions in the second half of the 20th century. Today, one may wonder whether his reflections still hold for the first decades of the 21st century. Are contemporary Western societies still prone to fall below the ideal of authenticity, merely reflecting the dark side of modern individualism and fostering a culture of narcissism? Or did they draw out something of its fuller potential, along the lines that Taylor suggested in the early 1990s? Is Taylor’s analysis of modern individualism still applicable to our current situation or have we explored new roads since then?

To address these questions, UCSIA, the Center for European Philosophy and the Center Pieter Gillis host a two-day congress at the University of Antwerp, 22-23 April 2015. The program starts off with an evening lecture by professor Patrick Madigan sj on April 22nd, entitled Expressive Individualism. The Cult of the Artist as Genius and Milton’s Lucifer.

The program on April 23rd will consist of parallel paper sessions and discussion in the morning, and lectures in the afternoon. The organizers welcome short papers for presentation (half an hour) with focus on the conference theme of ‘expressive individualism’ or Taylor’s ‘Ethics of Authenticity’. We also consider papers related to key words such as individualism, authenticity, self-expression and relativism. These themes may be addressed from different disciplines, such as philosophy, sociology, history and literature.

Please submit an abstract (max. 300 words) of your paper to [email protected] not later than March 20. You will be informed about acceptance on April 1st at the latest.