Charles Taylor wins the Templeton Prize:

[Dorothy_ParkerX]

<p>One of the great thinkers of our time:

A Canadian philosopher who believes that spirituality is an essential part of the study of philosophy and the social sciences has won the $1.5 million Templeton Prize for advancement and research of spiritual matters.</p>

<p>The recipient, Charles Taylor, 75, is a professor of law and philosophy at Northwestern University in Illinois and professor emeritus at McGill University in Montreal. </p>

<p>Professor Taylor has written extensively on the sense of self and how it is defined by morals and what one considers good. People operate in the register of spiritual issues, he said, and to separate those from the humanities and social sciences leads to flawed conclusions.

<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/science/15prize.html?ex=1331524800&en=13b44a8fc697c536&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/science/15prize.html?ex=1331524800&en=13b44a8fc697c536&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Dadguy]

<p>Watch him buy himself a nice sportscar.</p>

[LakeWashington]

<p>Good grief, for a moment I thought the headline reffered to the deposed former [and bloody] leader of Liberia, Charles Taylor.</p>

[Dorothy_ParkerX]

<p>

“Watch him buy himself a nice sportscar.”

Although it is not at all clear to me how sports cars fulfill the desires of 75 year old philosophers (perhaps projecting the more common desire/cynicism of middle-age dads) this is Taylor’s own idea on how to use the money:

“Taylor, the first Canadian to win the award in its 35-year history, says he’ll use the money to fund his work on the relation of “relationship of language and linguistic meaning to art and theology and to developing new concepts of relating human sciences with biological sciences.” That’s the sort of high-minded thinking to be expected of an academic philosopher.”

<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1598991,00.html[/url]”>http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1598991,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I remember having dinner with Taylor’s sister, Greta Chambers, the former Chancellor of McGill University, when I was about 11. A very sweet old lady as I remember.</p>

<p>For a brief bio:
<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_(philosopher[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_(philosopher)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And a very important/good book:
Sources of the Self
<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Sources-Self-Making-Modern-Identity/dp/0674824261/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2981642-9919803?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179847079&sr=8-1[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Sources-Self-Making-Modern-Identity/dp/0674824261/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2981642-9919803?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179847079&sr=8-1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Dadguy]

<p>The necessity of money to advance and research spiritual matters struck me as ironic. Hence the joke.</p>