S3 Episode 12: Cosmic Connections With Dr. Charles Taylor

This episode is the first of a series of presentations from an International Symposium on “Spiritual Yearning in a Disenchanted Age” held at McGill University in Montreal in November 2024.

In this first episode, Dr. Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McGill University, shares the motivations and long history behind his new book Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment.

Prof. Taylor is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in political philosophy, social theory, and intellectual history. Over the years, he has received numerous prestigious honors, such as the Kyoto Prize, the Templeton Prize, the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy, and the John W. Kluge Prize. In 2007, together with Gérard Bouchard, he co-led the Bouchard–Taylor Commission, which examined how to accommodate cultural differences in Quebec. Taylor has authored or edited more than thirty books, including Sources of the Self and A Secular Age.

In this episode, Prof. Taylor talks about:
The origins of humanity’s deeper spiritual search
Why poetry re-enchanting a disenchanted world
How the study of comparative religion shaped his own spiritual life
Cosmic longing explored across diverse cultures
Beauty unites communities in transformative experiences
How a secular age can spark religious rediscoveries

To learn more about Dr. Charles Taylor’s work, you can visit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_(philosopher)

Cosmic Connections: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674296084

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This episode is sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation (https://www.templeton.org/) and the Templeton Religion Trust (https://templetonreligiontrust.org/)

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