Charles Taylor describes three different strands of philosophy—those of Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Polanyi—that come together to challenge the assumptions of Modern philosophy that have persisted since the time of Descartes. He shows how these routes converge to provide an alternative understanding of epistemology. Taylor also shows how Polanyi's notion of personal knowledge provides a way around a dichotomy in ethics that was forged by Modern philosophy: the forced choice of grounds in either Humean sentiment theory or in Kantian deontology.