Modern Social Imaginaries

Charles Taylor
Modern Social Imaginaries

"The public sphere is a central feature of modern society. So much so, that even where it is in fact suppressed or manipulated it has to be faked. ….What is this common space? It’s actually a rather strange thing…..The terms of this struggle, its peculiarly intense ideological nature, the immense importance placed on theoretical justifications and models of right government, during those days when the urgent practical dangers of foreign invasion and internal counterrevolutionary insurrection seemed to demand their place at the top of the agenda; these are to be understood in this context."