Charles Taylor, Professor of Political Philosophy at McGill University in Montreal, is one of the most original and influential social philosophers of our time. The texts included in this volume are contributions to a new philosophical anthropology that reminds us of the dependence of all human abilities and achievements on the social community, in contrast to the atomistic view of humanity in modern philosophy. Taylor pursues his philosophical goal in various ways: through polemical engagement with reductionist trends in psychology and the philosophy of language, through the systematic evocation of the communitarian insights of ancient philosophy from Plato and Aristotle, and finally in dialogue with competing approaches in contemporary philosophy. He consistently seeks to open new perspectives through critical engagement.