Deaf People By Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher, argues that cultural survival is valuable and is a definitive good. He believes that it is in the proper domain of state action to define collective substantive goals for cultures, that can answer ‘what is ultimately valuable in life’, in order to protect the dialogical being. If we accept the argument that people are dialogical beings then deaf people should be allowed to live within their Deaf culture and produce deaf children as the please. By immersing themselves into a culture that surrounds them with others like them, they avoid the harms of misrecognition and it further gives them a sense of belonging.

Charles Taylor’s support of preserving cultures lies in the idea of a dialogical being. Taylor believes all humans to be dialogical which states that our identity is shaped by interactions with others. The dialogical self is constituted by it’s language, practices, and culture. Taylor then argues that misrecognition from those we interact with partly develops our identity and can inflict harm and oppression.

“A human being’s sense of self is established in the context of their ethics and morals. The concept of identity is related to ‘who I am’. Individuals situate themselves in a contextual environment that may include their relationships with family and friends, and their abilities and the occupations in which they are, or have been. This identifies what is ultimately important to an individual and how that relates to where their identity is in relation to this.” (Thomas, 2013)

This excerpt further explains the dynamics of how dialogical beings function. Individuals obtain their identity through interactions with those around them; therefore it is important that they surround th...

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...enzie and Scully’s argument, people against the deaf lesbian couple having a deaf baby don’t have grounds to legitimize their argument because they will never understand the specific predicament no matter how much they try to “imagine” themselves in their shoes.

Social model of disability states that most disabling part of being disabled is the society and culture. Society is defined as people who interact in such a way as to share a common culture. According to Charles Taylor, culture and society should be preserved. Thus, Deaf Culture should be preserved in order to avoid misrecognition and the harms associated with it as well as preserve differing societal values. Therefore, members of the Deaf culture should be allowed to create deaf babies if they please and we don’t have the rights in deciding what life is worth living and what life is not worth living.