Solo la secolarizzazione ci può salvare? I cercatori di senso nell’età secolare

In this essay I want to investigate the phenomenon of secularization from a philosophical point of view. First of all, I will consider the main theories of secularization in contemporary philosophy. In particular, I will focus on Charles Taylor’s view of secular age, which is based on the conditions of belief. Taylor’s view overcomes the limits of a subtraction theory of modernity, describing the important transformations occurred in modern and contemporary age as original perspectives concerning the identity of human beings, in relation to constellations of goods. Secondly, I will consider Taylor’s hermeneutics of secular age as an age dwelled by ‘seekers of meaning’, across and beyond the boundaries of religious faiths. Finally, I will investigate two ethical paths that I consider particularly meaningful in our age: the first one is based on motivations that animate mobilization for ethical causes of universal significance, the second one reflects the primacy of narrative paradigms in various fields of human life.