ABSTRACT
Introduction In his work Modern Social Imaginaries, Charles Taylor makes inter alia a case for the development of premodern and modern social imaginaries constructed upon divergent priorities in the narrative of the public space. Premodern imaginaries are based upon “hierarchical complementarity,” whereby groups and individuals accept a subordination of individual demands to the requirements of society.1 On the other hand, modern imaginaries have adapted to the primacy of the individual, seeking the goal of freedom through equality.2 The process by which modern imaginaries replaced premodern ones was long and gradual, and matches up to the development of Western civilization in Taylor’s treatment.
