Prominent Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor has been named the first-ever recipient of the Berggruen Prize.
The accolade, announced late Tuesday, will see Taylor receive a US$1-million award from the Berggruen Institute, a California-based non-partisan think-tank founded in 2010.
The institute said in a statement Taylor, 84, is the first recipient of the award, which will be handed out annually to a thinker "whose ideas are of broad significance for shaping human self-understanding and the advancement of humanity."
Taylor, a McGill University professor, is a leading voice for Canadian unity and the preservation of Quebec's distinct identity.
He is also a household name in the province for having co-chaired with Gerard Bouchard the Bouchard-Taylor commission, which looked at the "reasonable accommodation" of religious minorities.
The institute says its mission is to "to develop foundational ideas" and use them to help shape political and social institutions in the 21st century.
