Blog

View bloggers

Disclaimer

Subscribe


Saint Paul University

223 Main Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1S 1C4

maps

Toll free
1.800.637.6859


613-236-1393

613-782-3005

info@ustpaul.ca

Follow us

Being Green Got More Complex

June 03, 2019

The more people think about the environment, the more complexities will come to the surface. There is an ongoing debate in the Canadian Green movement, one that illustrates an important distinction, namely that between hard choices and moral dilemmas. We will have to face moral dilemmas when dealing with the difficulties of issues like global warming.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Democratic Primaries and Harry Potter

May 27, 2019

The women run on logic and the men on emotions. This seems to be the case for three major contests in American politics.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Politics, Sausages, Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau--Time to Go Vegetarian?

February 28, 2019

We got a good look at politics in action via Wilson-Raybould's testimony recently. Is this the way that we want our politics to be done?



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Playing with the Facts and De-Worming your Mind

January 09, 2019

Is it okay to distort the truth to support a moral/political position?



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


In appreciation of Canadian values

September 04, 2018

The ongoing conversations on diversity make me think: What does it mean to be a Canadian citizen, particularly for a first generation immigrant like myself?



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


No Fake News and No Hype: Discovery University's Graduation Ceremony

April 17, 2018

The reflections offered by students at Discovery University's Graduation ceremony were a delightful antidote to the current world of fake news and hype.



Read more » 1 comment
Bookmark and Share


Prime Minister Trudeau: A Tartuffe with First Nations?

October 14, 2017

Our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made some laudable promises regarding First Nations issues and I commend him for that. But is it all just for the sake of appearances? It would seem to be so. But I am not an expert on these issues, just a concerned citizen.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


What does it mean to ''Immorally Use a Canadian-Made Military Vehicle in Saudi Arabia?''

August 10, 2017

The is much value in thinking about what "using a vehicle" means since how this term is defined will determine much of the ethics of the whole problem regarding our selling arms to Saudi Arabia. But the issue is broader than the current issue with Saudi Arabia. It goes to the heart of what it means for Canada to sell arms to countries with poor human rights records.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


John Stuart Mill, Feminism and Voting--

June 05, 2017

June 5, 1867. Mill proposed to the British Parliament that women be granted the vote. His proposal didn't pass. It is quite a thought to imagine what would have happened had Mill been successful.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Trudeau’s Use and Abandonment of Electoral Reform: Will the Zombie Walk Again?

June 01, 2017

Trudeau has promised to open up elections not once, but twice. Twice he has abandoned his promise. Will he promise to do it a third time?



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Trump's - Pantheistic Temptation

February 06, 2017

The “Pantheistic Temptation,” in political philosophy, is for a leader to interpret vox populi, the voice of the people, with vox Dei, the voice of God. This gives the elected leader a sense of being able to do whatever he or she wishes. Carl Schmitt wrote about this; however, he eventually became a National Socialist following Hitler who is a prime example of a leader succumbing to a Pantheistic Temptation. There are signs that Trump is vulnerable to a Pantheistic Temptation. Hannah Arendt makes the case that positive exemplars point the way of responding to those who become this kind of leader.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Moral Transgression and Anti-Intellectualism: the Trudeau Government’s Abandonment of Voter Reform

February 03, 2017

“Moral transgression” is an accurate term for the Trudeau government’s abandonment of voter reform. I try to make the case. I offer some reflections on the political issues briefly afterwards.



Read more » 4 comments
Bookmark and Share


Who is Imitating Whom? A Mimetic Meditation on the Upcoming Donald Trump Presidency

January 16, 2017

With Donald Trump poised to become President of the United States, the American people need discernment to determine how best to respond to him as President. The next four years could either lead to entrenched mimetic structures of violence, in which people mutually harm one another, or to mimetic structures of blessing—mutual empowerment.



Read more » 2 comments
Bookmark and Share


An Academic Issue is the First Instance of Trump Being Blocked

January 16, 2017

The first issue to seriously get in Trump's way is an academic issue? Seriously?



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Report-back from Discovery University

December 10, 2016

Matt gives a brief description of his class at Discovery University and reflects on what the experience means for humanities education.



Read more » 1 comment
Bookmark and Share


Kevin O'Leary -- The Canadian Donald Trump? Let's Take This Possibility Very Seriously.

December 06, 2016

Canadians probably believe that Donald Trump's success could not be duplicated here. In fact, it might just be that we will have an opportunity to test that belief since Kevin O'Leary is contemplating a bid for the federal Conservative Party leadership.



Read more » 1 comment
Bookmark and Share


How Some People are "Okay" with Racism: Lessons from Plato's Cave and Sartre's Mauvaise Foi

November 22, 2016

We often delude ourselves by thinking that we have less responsibility than we actually do. As Plato points out, when we know something, we become responsible beings. Sartre stresses that our responsiblity is so deep and daunting that we often flee from it.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Post-election perspective

November 09, 2016

Some things to remember as you work through your feelings about the US election.



Read more » 2 comments
Bookmark and Share


Celebrating the Life and Thought of René Girard

October 25, 2016

French-American thinker, René Girard, developed a transdisciplinary theoretical perspective centred on mimetic desire and scapegoating that is having a transformative effect in many fields and disciplines. His work has transformed our understanding of the human condition. His death on November 4, 2015 is being commemorated at Saint Paul University with a Glasmacher Lecture on the evening of November 3rd and a Colloquium on November 4th.



Read more » 1 comment
Bookmark and Share


Awful historical men give me life advice (part 2)

October 18, 2016

In part two of his reflection on canonical but awful figures in the history of philosophy, Matt further discusses the example of Arthur Schopenhauer. He shows how Schopenhauer's philosophical system contains a remedy, or at least the rudiments of one, for his own prejudicial views.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Richard Batsinduka and Integrative Peacebuilding

October 13, 2016

Richard Batsinduka, who died in September, pioneered the introduction of Third Party Neutral training (Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution) in Rwanda in the 1990s. He worked closely with me in a relationship of mutual respect. In the process we developed understandings that are now pertinent to Integrative Peacebuilding (IPB).



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Epictetus and the paradox of self-care

October 13, 2016

Matt offers a personal reflection on the ancient philosopher Epictetus and asks the question: how do we square philosophies of self-care with the need to build a better world for everyone?



Read more » 2 comments
Bookmark and Share


On "locker room talk" as an issue of public ethics

October 09, 2016

Trump's latest scandal - a video recording where he brags about sexually assaulting women - helps us to reflect on three important topics in public ethics: clarity and precision of the language and concepts we use to talk about such scandals; the boundary between private and public; the interlocking nature of power and oppression.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Upcoming Conference: Building Hospitable Communities for Aging

September 21, 2016

The international interdisciplinary conference Building Hospitable Communities for Aging: Challenges and Opportunities will take place at Saint Paul University from September 28 to 30, 2016. Matt provides a brief outline of the reasons for the conference, the topics it will cover, and the long process of community involvement which went into its planning.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Is Surfing and Texting During a Lecture Acceptable? No....but why not?

September 05, 2016

Is it acceptable to use a laptop and/or cell phone during a lecture to look up extra information? Is it acceptable to use a laptop and/or cell phone during a lecture to surf or look at Facebook? I say no in all cases. Laptops are for notes and cell phones should be used at breaks.



Read more » 2 comments
Bookmark and Share


Does Voter Reform Require a Referendum? That Depends on what "Voter Reform" Means.

August 09, 2016

To see whether or not voter reform requires a referendum, it is necessary to clarify what "voter reform" means since there are a number of possibilities. This article provides an answer as to when a referendum is needed and when it is not.



Read more » 2 comments
Bookmark and Share


Ethics: Is it just for the Nervous?

July 14, 2016

Ethical problems are by nature incompleteness problems. They are not solved, but only partially tackled and examined. Being truly ethical means never being completely comfortable with one's beliefs.



Read more » 1 comment
Bookmark and Share


Cosmopolitanism After Brexit

July 05, 2016

Once it became clear that the Brexit supporters were going to win in the referendum, global markets dipped, diplomacy froze, and the British pound took its worst beating in years. None of these outcomes, however, completely capture the blows dealt to the cosmopolitan idea that propelled EU in the first place.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share


Trump and the US Elections

June 19, 2016

I must say that like many others I have watched the rise of Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential primaries with a bit of bewilderment and surprise.



Read more » 4 comments
Bookmark and Share


Homeric Ethics and Media Bias: Breaking the Beauty-Goodness Link

June 13, 2016

Linking beauty and goodness an old notion in philosophy.
It is also very dangerous.



Read more » 0 comment
Bookmark and Share