Canadian philosopher and writer Charles Taylor is the recipient of the first Berggruen Prize, worth US $1 million. Starting this year, the Berggruen Institute, a California-based think tank, will award the prize annually to a thinker “whose ideas are of broad significance for shaping human self-understanding and the advancement of humanity.”

Charles Taylor is a professor emeritus at McGill University, and has been influential in shaping our understanding of diversity and identity in a globalized world. He is known as a leading voice for Canadian unity and the preservation of Quebec’s distinct identity. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Whether writing about artificial intelligence, social behaviour, morality or multiculturalism, he remains a catalyst for vigorous debate.

Taylor is a past recipient of SSHRC funding, having received grants under various programs. For example, he collaborated on a project examining the evolution of religion and morality, which received a 2011 Partnership Grant.

In 2003, Taylor became SSHRC’s first Gold Medal winner. Recognized as a world-leading philosopher and one of this century’s most original thinkers, Taylor has received numerous honours, including the John W. Kluge Prize in 2015, the Kyoto Prize in 2008, the Templeton Prize in 2007, the Ordre national du Québec in 2000, and the Order of Canada in 1995.