Premodern Moral Order vs. Modern

Premodern Moral Order vs. Modern 

Modern Social Imaginaries by Charles Taylor is a revolutionary piece of work because it  makes sense of the paradigm shift over time in different aspects of society. The most  interesting shift I found was the one that Taylor argues shifted from a hierarchical system  to a moral order that utilized the idea of social imaginary to bring about the idea that  people are social being that go about the world in a way that benefits both themselves  and the general society as a whole. This shift is interesting because in the past, people  lived in a system of chains that were interlinked in a hierarchical fashion, which meant  that the people at the lowest levels were there to serve those of higher status up until the  "summit" at the top. Although Taylor gave an incredible amount of information and  examples of how this shift to a more mutually beneficial society, I feel that there is still a  hierarchical system in place even today. Taylor does negate and admits that this social  imaginary is nothing more than imagined notions of how life should be and how societies  should function. Although moral order is the way we feel that people and societies should  act, social imaginary is a different aspect in that it's what we imagine would be the ideal  way that life should be. Taylor provides vivid examples, especially the French 1792-94  example that highlights this shift where peasants became Frenchmen instead of just a  stepping-stone for those higher up. After reading through the entire book (which includes  modern society up to the World Trade Center 9/11 tragedy) I feel that the potential of a  society that is ideal or in other words, the social imaginary, is something that will continue  to evolve and improve over time as Taylor argues. The shift of society in terms of  economy, autonomy, religion, and other aspects through this idea of social imaginary is  one that continues to go through a metamorphosis for the betterment of society. Although  I don't think that we have, at present time, reached the full encompassing idea of social  imaginary, I feel that we will continue to use this idea as a roadmap for equality and  inclusion, to a certain extent, of all people in our different societies.