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Professor Taylor, 75, a Canadian philosopher, argues that problems such as terrorism and bigotry can be solved only by considering secular and spiritual dimensions.

He is professor of law and philosophy at Northwestern University, Illinois and professor emeritus in philosophy at McGill University, Montréal.

The role of spirituality in the 21st century has been the focus of his research for over 45 years.

He is the co-chairman of the Canadian commission on accommodation of cultural religious differences in public life.

He has written more than 12 books including The Explanation of Behaviour, Hegel, Hegel and Modern Society, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, and, A Catholic Modernity? his latest work A Secular Age, will be published later this year.

The Rev David Martin, emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, nominated Taylor for the prize. "[He] has traced the historical evolution of the religious and secular dimensions of the world as they relate to each other with unequalled authority," he said.

The prize

The £800,000 prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, is the world's largest annual money prize given to an individual.

It is awarded to a living person who has made a unique contribution to research into spiritual realities.

Prize money always exceeds the value of the Nobel Prize in order to highlight Templeton's belief that benefits from advances in spiritual discoveries can be greater than those from other worthy human endeavours.

Independent judges award the prize. Past judges have included the Dalai Lama, the Prince of Wales and Prince Albert of Belgium.

This year's judges were, Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Dr Baruch Blumberg, His Eminence Daniel Ciobotea, Francis Collins, Mary Ann Glendon, Professor Kaikhosrov Irani, the Rev Dr John Polkinghorne, Professor M. S. Swaminathan, and Dr Walter Thirring .