Charles Taylor and the Post-Secular Imagination: Moral Ontology, Resonance, the Renewal of Meaning in the Secular Age

Abstract

Charles Taylor and the Post-Secular Imagination: Moral Ontology, Resonance, and the Renewal of Meaning in the Secular Age By Kamaruzzaman Bustamam Ahmad Published by KBA13 Insight In an era defined by technological progress and moral disorientation, Charles Taylor and the Post-Secular Imagination explores one of the most urgent philosophical questions of our time: how can humanity live meaningfully after the disenchantment of the world? Drawing upon the monumental works of the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, Kamaruzzaman Bustamam Ahmad offers a penetrating meditation on the moral and metaphysical crises of modernity. The book traces Taylor’s intellectual journey—from Sources of the Self to A Secular Age—to uncover how the modern self, in seeking autonomy, has lost its moral depth and orientation toward transcendence. Rather than lamenting secular modernity, Ahmad interprets Taylor’s thought as a path of renewal. Through a dialogue between Western moral ontology and Islamic metaphysics, the author re-imagines Taylor’s post-secular vision as a bridge between faith and reason, immanence and transcendence. The result is a work of moral realism that invites readers to rediscover the unity of knowledge, the resonance of being, and the possibility of meaning in an age of fragmentation. Written with philosophical clarity and literary grace, this book will appeal to scholars and readers interested in moral philosophy, theology, comparative religion, post-secular studies, and the renewal of metaphysical imagination in the 21st century. Key Themes The moral and spiritual crisis of modernity The post-secular condition: belief and unbelief in a shared world The rediscovery of transcendence within immanence Dialogue between Charles Taylor and Islamic metaphysics The ethics of resonance and moral realism