This unique collection focuses on Hegel's "Philosophy of Action" as it relates to current concerns. Including key papers by Taylor, MacIntyre, and McDowell as well as eleven especially commissioned contributions, it aims to readdress the dialogue between Hegel and contemporary philosophy of action.

Charles Taylor (1931- ) is one of the leading living philosophers. This is the first extended study on the key notions of his views in philosophical anthropology and ethical theory. Firstly, Laitinen clarifies, qualifies and defends Taylor's thesis that transcendental arguments show that personal understandings concerning ethical and other values (so called "strong evaluation") is necessary, in different ways, for human agency, selfhood, identity and personhood. Secondly, Laitinen defends and develops in various ways Taylor's value realism. Finally, the book criticizes Taylor's view that it is necessary to identify and locate a constitutive source of value, such as God, Nature or Human Reason. Taylor relies heavily on this claim in his accounts of moral life, modern identity and, most recently, secularisation. Laitinen argues that the whole notion of constitutive moral source should be dropped - Taylor's views concerning strong evaluation and value realism are distorted by the question of constitutive "moral sources".

This unique collection focuses on Hegel's Philosophy of Action as it relates to current concerns. Including key papers by Taylor, MacIntyre, and McDowell as well as eleven especially commissioned contributions, it aims to readdress the dialogue between Hegel and contemporary philosophy of action.

This collection of original articles considers the perennial question ?What are persons It aims first of all to clarify the nature of the question and its relation to associated questions such as the nature of the human animal; how the concepts of human being, person, subject, and self are related; the persistence and unity of persons; and questions as to the conditions for personhood and personality. The ?dimensions? of the book's title reflects the volume's focus on the relations that persons have with themselves and each other. Dr Arto Laitinen and Dr Heikki Ik?heimo are based at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of Jyv?skyl? in Finland.

This book brings together philosophers, social psychologists and social scientists to approach contemporary social reality from the viewpoint of solidarity. It examines the nature of different kinds of solidarity and assesses the normative and explanatory potential of the concept. Various aspects of solidarity as a special emotionally and ethically responsive relation are studied: the nature of collective emotions and mutual recognition, responsiveness to others' suffering and needs, and the nature of moral partiality included in solidarity. The evolution of norms of solidarity is examined both via the natural evolution of the human "social brain" and via the institutional changes in legal constitutions and contemporary work life. This text will appeal to students, scholars, and anyone interested in the interdisciplinary topic of social solidarity.