Taylor's suggestion in this landmark essay is that, in fact, we ought to act with the presumption or premise that we owe equal respect to all cultures. It involves, he says, an act of faith. The claim: 'that all human cultures that have animated whole societies over some considerable stretch of time have something important to say to all human beings.' (He does get vague when it matters, ole Charlie T.). But this operates as a presumption, a starting point, which has to be demonstrated concretely in actual encounter.
However, in this encounter with another culture, we have to learn ourselves to move in a broader horizon, to develop new vocabularies of comparison:
if and when we ultimately find substantive support for our initial presumption, it is on the basis of an understanding of what constitutes worth that we couldn't possibly have had at the beginning. We have reached the judgement partly through transforming our standards.
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