Charles Taylor on the question of cultural recognition

This article deals with the fundamental features of Taylor's concept of recognition and considers some problem areas to which cultural recognition is relevant. Our identity is partly characterized by the recognition or the misrecognition - too often by the misrecognition - of others. The collapse of original social settings has brought a transition from honour to dignity, implying a redefinition of identity and authenticity. The period in which people from western society lived in their pre-determined settings, and with corresponding characters they were called to represent, has lost its relevance today. Taylor distinguishes between the politics of universalism and the politics of difference, both of which are based on the politics of this transition from honour to dignity. Taylor refers to context and particular sociability values, although the community's perception does not reflect any overly-particularist tendencies. His thesis has universalist elements from which he derives normativity. Universal moral ontology is, according to Taylor's thesis, a condition for particular values and standards in practice.