Philosophy in Canada
Encyclopedia
The study and teaching of philosophy in Canada date from the time of New France
. There has since developed no particular "Canadian"
school of philosophy
. Rather, Canadian philosophers have reflected particular views of established European and later American schools of philosophical thought, be it Thomism
, Objective Idealism
, or Scottish Common Sense Realism. Since the mid-twentieth century the depth and scope of philosophical activity in Canada has increased dramatically. This article focuses on the evolution of epistemology, logic
, the philosophy of mind
, metaphysics
, ethics
and metaethics, and continental philosophy
in Canada.
, one of the founding institutions of New France
, had a profound influence on philosophy in Canada. As early as 1665, philosophy, viewed as the handmaiden of theology
, was taught in Quebec
at the Jesuit College there and included studies in physics, metaphysics and ethics as well as the works of St. Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274).
The Enlightenment
, and the arrival of the British after 1759, introduced new ideas into New France, including Cartesian doubt
, the atheism
of the Enlightenment
, and the sovereignty of the polity. A reaction to these ideas ensued, inspired by the French philosopher, Felicite de Lamennais (1782–1854) and was reflected in the works of the colonial philosopher Abbé Jérôme Demers
. This reaction initially took the form of an objection to, and refutation of these "unsettling" ideas, adopted by other thinkers, such as Pierre du Calvet
.
After 1840, in Europe as well as New France the reaction of the Catholic Church to the ideas of the Enlightenment, took the form of stronger response that sought to reaffirm the Catholic view and establish a "Catholic" philosophy that removed secular uncertainly by reinforcing the place of God at the centre of the daily life. This new philosophy took the form of Thomism
, which in many ways is considered the "French Canadian" philosophy.
In the 1920s the study of philosophy was taken up by universities in Quebec, including the University de Montréal in 1921 and Laval University in Quebec in 1935. This development was both inspired by and coincident with the publication in 1931 of the Papal pronouncement, Deus Scientarium, which sought to mobilize science as the basis of faith.
The new century was also marked by notable contributions to the study of medieval history and philosophy by Father Ephrem Longpres, the Franciscan medievalist and the Dominican philosophers, including Hermas Bastien, Charles De Koninck
, Father Louis Lachance, Father Arcade Monette, Father Julien Péghaire, Father Louis-Marie Regis, and Father Patrice Robert.
inspired the first philosophers in English speaking Canada. These scholars all taught at newly created colonial universities, and their studies emphasized the philosophical foundation of religion, in this case Protestantism, the philosophical understanding of the natural world (natural philosophy), and the philosophical basis of political systems. James Beaven
's Elements of Natural Theology, which was perhaps the first philosophical work written in English Canada, is an early example.
Other notable contributors to these ideas included John Watson
at Queen's University in Kingston and George John Blewett at the University of Toronto. Other philosophers included Richard Maurice Bucke of London, Ontario, John Macdonald at the University of Alberta, Herbert Leslie Stewart at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Rupert Clendon Lodge at the University of Manitoba, and George Sidney Brett and John Irving at the University of Toronto. Many of these figures were influenced by the British idealist tradition, represented by figures such as Bernard Bosanquet
and Thomas Hill Green
dominant in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Of particular note during middle years of the twentieth century was the work of one of Canada's greatest scholars, Harold Innis
, of the University of Toronto. Although usually considered an economist and social scientist, his work also reflects an important number of philosophical concepts related to economics and communications. He had a great influence on his colleague Marshall McLuhan
.
The first full professorships in physics
as distinct from natural philosophy
were established at Dalhousie, Halifax, in 1879, Toronto, 1887 and McGill, in Montreal in 1890. Although these were mainly teaching positions there was some research activity. At Dalhousie, Professor J.G. McGregor, the first to hold the position at that university, published about 50 papers during his tenure from 1879 until 1899. Other prominent researchers in the field at this time included H.L. Callendar and E. Rutherford, Macdonald professors of physics at McGill and J.C. McLennan at U of T.
Psychology
in Canada was initially considered a part of the discipline of philosophy and university courses were given by members of philosophy departments. The first course in psychology in Canada was taught at Dalhousie University in 1838 by Thomas McCulloch within the framework of studies in philosophy. By 1866 Dalhousie hosted a chair in psychology and metaphysics. McGill offered courses beginning in 1850 when lectures in the topic were presented by Professor W.T.Leach with a doctorate from Edinburgh. The first psychology text written in Canada was penned by William Lyall of Halifax in 1855. However by the end of the century psychology was still considered an adjunct to philosophy, not a subject of importance per se, but rather a prerequisite for the advanced study of ethics and metaphysics.
Psychology slowly began to make its mark as a separate discipline in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The oldest Psychology Department in North America was founded at the University of Toronto by Professor Mark Baldwin in 1892 along with a related laboratory in psychology. It was here in 1909, that August Kirschmann, who had studied under Professor Wundt
at his famous laboratory in Leipzig
, undertook the first fundamental psychological research in Canada and presented seminars on the, "new psychology". Dr. E.A. Brett a noted philosopher at U of T, wrote the three volume "History of Psychology" between 1912 and 1921. McGill established a psychological laboratory under the directorship of Professor William Dunlop Tait in 1910, followed by the creation of a psychology department separate from philosophy in 1922. McMaster employed a professor in psychology by 1890.
The First World War had an important positive effect on the discipline which was recognized for its use in the fields of personnel selection, training and the post-war rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.
In the years following the Great War, the number of staff at the U of T increased to seven and important research was undertaken by Dr. E.A. Bott relating to the rehabilitation of soldiers with muscular disabilities. By 1927 the psychology department at U of T had achieved full independence from the bonds of the department of philosophy.
During this period Dr Hans Selye
undertook fundamental studies of stress which cut across the boundaries of medical research, biology and psychology. He began his work at McGill in 1936 and continued his investigations at the University of Montreal starting in 1945. He described the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as the body's mechanism for coping with stress and published a number of books including The Stress of Life in 1953.
While still under the influence of the departments of philosophy, noted philosophers such as John Watson
at Queens, John MacEachran at Alberta, William Caldwell at McGill and G.S Brett at U of T, championed the recognition of psychology as a discipline in its own right, leading to the creation of separate departments of philosophy and psychology in many universities. By the end of the thirties the growth of the discipline was sufficient to warrant the establishment of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1939.
The discipline of sociology
evolved from the ideas of philosophers Auguste Comte
and Émile Durkheim
in France in the nineteenth century. However it was not until 1922 that Carl A. Dawson was appointed Canada's first professor of sociology at McGill. Honours programmes in sociology were established at McGill in 1926 and at the University of Toronto in 1932.
Anthropology
evolved from a long history of interest in Canada's native peoples on the part of Jesuit missionaries, explorers and university professors including Sir Daniel Wilson at the University of Toronto and Sir John William Dawson at McGill and the inspiration provided by moral philosophy. Professional anthropology got its start in Canada in 1910 when Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier
established the Division of Anthropology as a part of the Geological Survey of Canada.
Studies in this field have often focused on the philosophy of psychology. Important work in this area has been done in Canada, particularly at the Centre for Cognitive Science at the University of Western Ontario by, Patricia and Paul Churchland, Zenon Pylyshyn, and Ausonio Marras in the early eighties.
Logic
Studies in logic have been undertaken by a number of individuals. Bas Van Fraassen, William Rozeboom and Alasdair Urquhart have specialized in the semantics of logic, while Hans Herzberger and William Harper have studied the nature of preference. John Woods has investigated concepts relating to relevance and paradox. Others have made contributions to the field, including Charles Morgan (modal logics), Charles Morgan (probability semantics), and Anil Gupta (the semantics of truth and paradoxes).
Philosophy of mind
All Group of Thirteen
have departments of philosophy with doctorate-level staff members conducting research related to the philosophy of mind. The work of Dr. Paul R. Thagard, at the University of Waterloo, with respect to cognitive functions and coherence, is of note. Charles Taylor
, emeritus professor at McGill University in Montreal, has studied consciousness within the context of Hegelianism. Zenon Pylyshyn a psychologist and computer scientist at the University of Western Ontario from 1964 to 1994, has made significant contributions to cognitive science. Other Canadian-born and educated cognitive scientists have made their mark in the US, including David Kirsh
, John Robert Anderson, Keith Holyoak
, and Steven Pinker
.
Metaphysics and religion
Metaphysics deals with the study of the nature of reality. Since the Enlightenment, reality has been seen through the lenses of both religion and science, and frequently there has been a conflict between the views of the two. Following the horrors of the Second World War, the attacks on the views of religion became particularly vigorous with science on the offensive.
Canadian philosophers in the postwar era have attempted, in a number of ways, to resolve these conflicts and to legitimize religious belief. A variety of approaches have been used. Some have stressed the similatities between religion and science, as have F.W. Waters (1967) and Alastair McKinnon (1970). Others, including Lionel Rubinoff, have emphasized the importance of placing our scientific view of the world in a larger human context. There have been attempts to resolve the conflict, through science, as seen in the writings of Charles De Koninck
(1960), Thomas Goudge (1961), and A.H. Johnson (1962). Others have attempted to argue the rational nature of religious belief. Some, inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas, include Bernard Lonergan
(1952), Louis-Marie Régis (1959), Joseph Owens
(1968), Jean-Louis Allard (1979, 1982), and Lawrence Dewan, OP. More general approaches defending the reasonability of religion have been taken by Leslie Armour
and William Sweet
. Still others have attempted to address issues in the philosophy of religion by questioning underlying issues in metaphysics. Those following this approach within the analytic tradition include Kai Nielsen, Donald Evans (1963), Terence Penelhum (1970), Alistair M. Macleod (1973), and Jay Newman (1986). Phenomenology has also played a role, as seen in the work of Emil Fackenheim
(1961), Benoit Pruche (1977–1980), René l'Ecuyer (1980), Jacques Croteau (1981), Cyril Welch (1982), Gary Madison (1988), Hendrik Hart (1990), Jean Grondin (1995), and Thomas De Koninck (1995).
Ethics – social and political philosophy
Ethics is the study of questions concerning the nature of right and wrong and good and bad as they relate to human conduct. In many cases, the aim is to use philosophy to make our world and society a better place. Work in the field has grown in the postwar years. Research has been undertaken by a large number of individuals including Francis Sparshott, Kai Nielsen, David Braybrooke, Jonathan Bennett, Gerald Cohen, Donald Brown, Daniel Weinstock, William Sweet
, Charles Taylor
. Wayne Sumner has been active in the field of applied philosophy. Real Fillion has brought together philosophy and politics in his original work in multiculturalism
.
The minority position of the French language and culture in Canada and North America is reflected in the preoccupation of a large number of French Canadian philosophers with metaethics. Fernand Dumont, Claude Savary, Jacques Grand'Maison, Michel Morin, Claude Bertrand, Joseph Pestieau, Ferdinand Dumond, Guy Laforest, Louis Balthazar, Vincent Lemieux, Guy Laforest, François Blais, Diane Lamoureux, Michel Seymour, Gerard Bergeron, Maurice Lagueux, Jean Guy Meunier, Serge Cantin, Jean Roy, Guy Lafrance, Roger Lambert, Dominique Leydet, Gilles Labelle, Yvonne Thériault, Guy Lafrance, Josiane Ayoub, Pierre Robert, Bjarne Melkevik, and Philip Knee have made important contributions. They may be considered the secular descendants of their Thomist ancestors.
Of particular interest is the work of the economist and Thomist philosopher Bernard Lonergan
, as reflected in Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957), and Method in Theology (1972), which described his Generalized Empirical Method. His writings are the subject of a 25 volume collection being edited by the University of Toronto Press.
Continental philosophy
European philosophers of the 20th century launched a number of philosophical movements that were revolutionary both within philosophy and in the larger culture. These movements—phenomenology, existentialism and deconstruction—were often not well-received in North American universities, but they have been a regular and growing part of the philosophical landscape of North America since the 1950s, and Canadian universities have played an important role in the development and dissemination of these philosophical ideas. In the 1970s and 1980s, the University of Toronto in particular was internationally known for its experts in what is often called "continental philosophy
". Emil Fackenheim
, Kenneth L. Schmitz, Graeme Nicholson, and others made the University of Toronto an international centre for the study of these approaches to philosophical inquiry. At the same time Graeme Nicholson's teacher James Doull
, a Hegelian whom Emil Fackenheim
notably debated in print on matters relating to the interpretation of Hegel, taught philosophy as well as classical literature in the Classics Department at Dalhousie University
in Halifax. Currently, the University of Toronto, with scholars such as Robert Gibbs and Rebecca Comayhttp://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=17143, the University of Guelph, with Jay Lampert and John Russon
, and McGill University, with scholars such as Philip Buckley, George Di Giovanni, Hasana Sharp and Alia Al-Saji, are major North American centers for research and teaching in the continental traditions of philosophy.
(ACPA), was established in 1958 to encourage and promote philosophy in Canada. This was followed by the founding of regional associations in Ontario, Quebec, the west and Atlantic Canada, and the initiation of the Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress. The professional journal, Dialogue
was established in 1962, and the Canadian Journal of Philosophy
in 1971. Philosophers of note who have been published there include, Joel Feinberg
(1974), Jonathan Bennett (philosopher)
(1974), Terence Parsons
(1980), William C. Wimsatt
(1994) and David Gauthier
(1994).
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
. There has since developed no particular "Canadian"
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
school of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Rather, Canadian philosophers have reflected particular views of established European and later American schools of philosophical thought, be it Thomism
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
, Objective Idealism
Objective idealism
Objective idealism is an idealistic metaphysics that postulates that there is in an important sense only one perceiver, and that this perceiver is one with that which is perceived. One important advocate of such a metaphysics, Josiah Royce, wrote that he was indifferent "whether anybody calls all...
, or Scottish Common Sense Realism. Since the mid-twentieth century the depth and scope of philosophical activity in Canada has increased dramatically. This article focuses on the evolution of epistemology, logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, the philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...
, metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
and metaethics, and continental philosophy
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...
in Canada.
The Roman Catholic Church and philosophy
The Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, one of the founding institutions of New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
, had a profound influence on philosophy in Canada. As early as 1665, philosophy, viewed as the handmaiden of theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
, was taught in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
at the Jesuit College there and included studies in physics, metaphysics and ethics as well as the works of St. Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274).
The Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, and the arrival of the British after 1759, introduced new ideas into New France, including Cartesian doubt
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
, the atheism
Atheism in the Age of the Enlightenment
Atheism, as defined by the entry in Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie is "the opinion of those who deny the existence of a God in the world. The simple ignorance of God doesn't constitute atheism...
of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, and the sovereignty of the polity. A reaction to these ideas ensued, inspired by the French philosopher, Felicite de Lamennais (1782–1854) and was reflected in the works of the colonial philosopher Abbé Jérôme Demers
Jérôme Demers
Jérôme Demers was a Québécois Roman Catholic priest, author, architect, educator, and ecclesiastical administrator. He was perhaps best known as a teacher of philosophy at the Séminaire de Québec, where he taught for more than fifty years...
. This reaction initially took the form of an objection to, and refutation of these "unsettling" ideas, adopted by other thinkers, such as Pierre du Calvet
Pierre du Calvet
Pierre du Calvet was a Montreal trader, justice of the peace, political prisoner and epistle writer of French Huguenot origin.- Family :...
.
After 1840, in Europe as well as New France the reaction of the Catholic Church to the ideas of the Enlightenment, took the form of stronger response that sought to reaffirm the Catholic view and establish a "Catholic" philosophy that removed secular uncertainly by reinforcing the place of God at the centre of the daily life. This new philosophy took the form of Thomism
Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, his commentaries on Aristotle are his most lasting contribution...
, which in many ways is considered the "French Canadian" philosophy.
In the 1920s the study of philosophy was taken up by universities in Quebec, including the University de Montréal in 1921 and Laval University in Quebec in 1935. This development was both inspired by and coincident with the publication in 1931 of the Papal pronouncement, Deus Scientarium, which sought to mobilize science as the basis of faith.
The new century was also marked by notable contributions to the study of medieval history and philosophy by Father Ephrem Longpres, the Franciscan medievalist and the Dominican philosophers, including Hermas Bastien, Charles De Koninck
Charles De Koninck
Charles De Koninck was a Belgian-Canadian Thomist philosopher and theologian. As director of the Department of Philosophy at the Université Laval in Quebec, he had decisive influence on catholic philosophy in French Canada and also influenced Catholic philosophers in English Canada and the United...
, Father Louis Lachance, Father Arcade Monette, Father Julien Péghaire, Father Louis-Marie Regis, and Father Patrice Robert.
Early philosophy in English Canada
The Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
inspired the first philosophers in English speaking Canada. These scholars all taught at newly created colonial universities, and their studies emphasized the philosophical foundation of religion, in this case Protestantism, the philosophical understanding of the natural world (natural philosophy), and the philosophical basis of political systems. James Beaven
James Beaven
James Beaven was a Church of England clergyman and author, educated and employed in England until accepting an appointment as professor of divinity at King’s College, Toronto, in 1843....
's Elements of Natural Theology, which was perhaps the first philosophical work written in English Canada, is an early example.
Other notable contributors to these ideas included John Watson
John Watson (philosopher)
-Life:John Watson was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1847. He attended the Free Church School in Kilmarnock, then enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. Within a month, however, he was drawn to the University of Glasgow by the reputations of the brothers John Caird, professor of divinity, and...
at Queen's University in Kingston and George John Blewett at the University of Toronto. Other philosophers included Richard Maurice Bucke of London, Ontario, John Macdonald at the University of Alberta, Herbert Leslie Stewart at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Rupert Clendon Lodge at the University of Manitoba, and George Sidney Brett and John Irving at the University of Toronto. Many of these figures were influenced by the British idealist tradition, represented by figures such as Bernard Bosanquet
Bernard Bosanquet
Bernard Bosanquet may refer to:* Bernard Bosanquet , English cricketer credited with inventing the googly* Bernard Bosanquet , English philosopher...
and Thomas Hill Green
Thomas Hill Green
Thomas Hill Green was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influenced by the metaphysical historicism of G.W.F. Hegel...
dominant in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Of particular note during middle years of the twentieth century was the work of one of Canada's greatest scholars, Harold Innis
Harold Innis
Harold Adams Innis was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory and Canadian economic history. The affiliated Innis College at the University of Toronto is named for him...
, of the University of Toronto. Although usually considered an economist and social scientist, his work also reflects an important number of philosophical concepts related to economics and communications. He had a great influence on his colleague Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
.
The development of new disciplines out of philosophy
The growth and specialization of certain elements of philosophy in Europe, in time lead to their establishment as new disciplines, separate from philosophy. Natural philosophy became the study of physics, moral philosophy evolved into sociology and anthropology and psychology became a branch of study free of the hand of philosophy. These developments were reflected in Canada during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.The first full professorships in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
as distinct from natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
were established at Dalhousie, Halifax, in 1879, Toronto, 1887 and McGill, in Montreal in 1890. Although these were mainly teaching positions there was some research activity. At Dalhousie, Professor J.G. McGregor, the first to hold the position at that university, published about 50 papers during his tenure from 1879 until 1899. Other prominent researchers in the field at this time included H.L. Callendar and E. Rutherford, Macdonald professors of physics at McGill and J.C. McLennan at U of T.
Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
in Canada was initially considered a part of the discipline of philosophy and university courses were given by members of philosophy departments. The first course in psychology in Canada was taught at Dalhousie University in 1838 by Thomas McCulloch within the framework of studies in philosophy. By 1866 Dalhousie hosted a chair in psychology and metaphysics. McGill offered courses beginning in 1850 when lectures in the topic were presented by Professor W.T.Leach with a doctorate from Edinburgh. The first psychology text written in Canada was penned by William Lyall of Halifax in 1855. However by the end of the century psychology was still considered an adjunct to philosophy, not a subject of importance per se, but rather a prerequisite for the advanced study of ethics and metaphysics.
Psychology slowly began to make its mark as a separate discipline in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The oldest Psychology Department in North America was founded at the University of Toronto by Professor Mark Baldwin in 1892 along with a related laboratory in psychology. It was here in 1909, that August Kirschmann, who had studied under Professor Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physician, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology"...
at his famous laboratory in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, undertook the first fundamental psychological research in Canada and presented seminars on the, "new psychology". Dr. E.A. Brett a noted philosopher at U of T, wrote the three volume "History of Psychology" between 1912 and 1921. McGill established a psychological laboratory under the directorship of Professor William Dunlop Tait in 1910, followed by the creation of a psychology department separate from philosophy in 1922. McMaster employed a professor in psychology by 1890.
The First World War had an important positive effect on the discipline which was recognized for its use in the fields of personnel selection, training and the post-war rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.
In the years following the Great War, the number of staff at the U of T increased to seven and important research was undertaken by Dr. E.A. Bott relating to the rehabilitation of soldiers with muscular disabilities. By 1927 the psychology department at U of T had achieved full independence from the bonds of the department of philosophy.
During this period Dr Hans Selye
Hans Selye
Hans Hugo Bruno Selye, CC was a pioneering endocrinologist. Selye did much important scientific work on the hypothetical non-specific response of an organism to stressors. While he did not recognize all of the many aspects of glucocorticoids, Selye was aware of their role in the stress response...
undertook fundamental studies of stress which cut across the boundaries of medical research, biology and psychology. He began his work at McGill in 1936 and continued his investigations at the University of Montreal starting in 1945. He described the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as the body's mechanism for coping with stress and published a number of books including The Stress of Life in 1953.
While still under the influence of the departments of philosophy, noted philosophers such as John Watson
John Watson (philosopher)
-Life:John Watson was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1847. He attended the Free Church School in Kilmarnock, then enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. Within a month, however, he was drawn to the University of Glasgow by the reputations of the brothers John Caird, professor of divinity, and...
at Queens, John MacEachran at Alberta, William Caldwell at McGill and G.S Brett at U of T, championed the recognition of psychology as a discipline in its own right, leading to the creation of separate departments of philosophy and psychology in many universities. By the end of the thirties the growth of the discipline was sufficient to warrant the establishment of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1939.
The discipline of sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
evolved from the ideas of philosophers Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
and Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
in France in the nineteenth century. However it was not until 1922 that Carl A. Dawson was appointed Canada's first professor of sociology at McGill. Honours programmes in sociology were established at McGill in 1926 and at the University of Toronto in 1932.
Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
evolved from a long history of interest in Canada's native peoples on the part of Jesuit missionaries, explorers and university professors including Sir Daniel Wilson at the University of Toronto and Sir John William Dawson at McGill and the inspiration provided by moral philosophy. Professional anthropology got its start in Canada in 1910 when Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
established the Division of Anthropology as a part of the Geological Survey of Canada.
The ideas and philosophers
EpistemologyStudies in this field have often focused on the philosophy of psychology. Important work in this area has been done in Canada, particularly at the Centre for Cognitive Science at the University of Western Ontario by, Patricia and Paul Churchland, Zenon Pylyshyn, and Ausonio Marras in the early eighties.
Logic
Studies in logic have been undertaken by a number of individuals. Bas Van Fraassen, William Rozeboom and Alasdair Urquhart have specialized in the semantics of logic, while Hans Herzberger and William Harper have studied the nature of preference. John Woods has investigated concepts relating to relevance and paradox. Others have made contributions to the field, including Charles Morgan (modal logics), Charles Morgan (probability semantics), and Anil Gupta (the semantics of truth and paradoxes).
Philosophy of mind
All Group of Thirteen
Group of Thirteen (Canadian universities)
The U15 is a group of 15 leading research-intensive universities in Canada. The U15 was formed in 1991 as an informal biannual meeting of university executive heads, although the group has yet to incorporate. The U15's primary activity is in joint research programs. The chairmanship of the U15...
have departments of philosophy with doctorate-level staff members conducting research related to the philosophy of mind. The work of Dr. Paul R. Thagard, at the University of Waterloo, with respect to cognitive functions and coherence, is of note. Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Charles Margrave Taylor, is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec best known for his contributions in political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, and in the history of philosophy. His contributions to these fields have earned him both the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the...
, emeritus professor at McGill University in Montreal, has studied consciousness within the context of Hegelianism. Zenon Pylyshyn a psychologist and computer scientist at the University of Western Ontario from 1964 to 1994, has made significant contributions to cognitive science. Other Canadian-born and educated cognitive scientists have made their mark in the US, including David Kirsh
David Kirsh
David Kirsh is a Canadian cognitive scientist, and Professor at University of California, San Diego , where he heads the Interactive Cognition Lab.- Biography :He received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1976 and his D.Phil...
, John Robert Anderson, Keith Holyoak
Keith Holyoak
Keith James Holyoak is a researcher in cognitive psychology and cognitive science, working on human thinking and reasoning. Holyoak's work focuses on the role of analogy in thinking...
, and Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
.
Metaphysics and religion
Metaphysics deals with the study of the nature of reality. Since the Enlightenment, reality has been seen through the lenses of both religion and science, and frequently there has been a conflict between the views of the two. Following the horrors of the Second World War, the attacks on the views of religion became particularly vigorous with science on the offensive.
Canadian philosophers in the postwar era have attempted, in a number of ways, to resolve these conflicts and to legitimize religious belief. A variety of approaches have been used. Some have stressed the similatities between religion and science, as have F.W. Waters (1967) and Alastair McKinnon (1970). Others, including Lionel Rubinoff, have emphasized the importance of placing our scientific view of the world in a larger human context. There have been attempts to resolve the conflict, through science, as seen in the writings of Charles De Koninck
Charles De Koninck
Charles De Koninck was a Belgian-Canadian Thomist philosopher and theologian. As director of the Department of Philosophy at the Université Laval in Quebec, he had decisive influence on catholic philosophy in French Canada and also influenced Catholic philosophers in English Canada and the United...
(1960), Thomas Goudge (1961), and A.H. Johnson (1962). Others have attempted to argue the rational nature of religious belief. Some, inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas, include Bernard Lonergan
Bernard Lonergan
Fr. Bernard J.F. Lonergan, CC, SJ was a Canadian Jesuit priest, philosopher, and theologian widely regarded as one of the most important Catholic thinkers of the twentieth century....
(1952), Louis-Marie Régis (1959), Joseph Owens
Joseph Owens (Redemptorist)
Reverend Joseph Owens, C.Ss.R. , was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and a scholar in medieval philosophy.-Life and career:...
(1968), Jean-Louis Allard (1979, 1982), and Lawrence Dewan, OP. More general approaches defending the reasonability of religion have been taken by Leslie Armour
Leslie Armour
Leslie Armour is a Canadian-born philosopher and writer on social economics. He is the father of the cellist and impresario Julian Armour.-Academic career:...
and William Sweet
William Sweet
William Sweet is a Canadian philosopher, and a Past-President of the Canadian Philosophical Association. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Philosophy, Theology, and Cultural Traditions at St Francis Xavier University...
. Still others have attempted to address issues in the philosophy of religion by questioning underlying issues in metaphysics. Those following this approach within the analytic tradition include Kai Nielsen, Donald Evans (1963), Terence Penelhum (1970), Alistair M. Macleod (1973), and Jay Newman (1986). Phenomenology has also played a role, as seen in the work of Emil Fackenheim
Emil Fackenheim
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim, Ph.D. was a noted Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi.Born in Halle, Germany, he was arrested by the Nazis on the night of November 9, 1938, known as Kristallnacht...
(1961), Benoit Pruche (1977–1980), René l'Ecuyer (1980), Jacques Croteau (1981), Cyril Welch (1982), Gary Madison (1988), Hendrik Hart (1990), Jean Grondin (1995), and Thomas De Koninck (1995).
Ethics – social and political philosophy
Ethics is the study of questions concerning the nature of right and wrong and good and bad as they relate to human conduct. In many cases, the aim is to use philosophy to make our world and society a better place. Work in the field has grown in the postwar years. Research has been undertaken by a large number of individuals including Francis Sparshott, Kai Nielsen, David Braybrooke, Jonathan Bennett, Gerald Cohen, Donald Brown, Daniel Weinstock, William Sweet
William Sweet
William Sweet is a Canadian philosopher, and a Past-President of the Canadian Philosophical Association. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Philosophy, Theology, and Cultural Traditions at St Francis Xavier University...
, Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Charles Margrave Taylor, is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec best known for his contributions in political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, and in the history of philosophy. His contributions to these fields have earned him both the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the...
. Wayne Sumner has been active in the field of applied philosophy. Real Fillion has brought together philosophy and politics in his original work in multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
.
The minority position of the French language and culture in Canada and North America is reflected in the preoccupation of a large number of French Canadian philosophers with metaethics. Fernand Dumont, Claude Savary, Jacques Grand'Maison, Michel Morin, Claude Bertrand, Joseph Pestieau, Ferdinand Dumond, Guy Laforest, Louis Balthazar, Vincent Lemieux, Guy Laforest, François Blais, Diane Lamoureux, Michel Seymour, Gerard Bergeron, Maurice Lagueux, Jean Guy Meunier, Serge Cantin, Jean Roy, Guy Lafrance, Roger Lambert, Dominique Leydet, Gilles Labelle, Yvonne Thériault, Guy Lafrance, Josiane Ayoub, Pierre Robert, Bjarne Melkevik, and Philip Knee have made important contributions. They may be considered the secular descendants of their Thomist ancestors.
Of particular interest is the work of the economist and Thomist philosopher Bernard Lonergan
Bernard Lonergan
Fr. Bernard J.F. Lonergan, CC, SJ was a Canadian Jesuit priest, philosopher, and theologian widely regarded as one of the most important Catholic thinkers of the twentieth century....
, as reflected in Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957), and Method in Theology (1972), which described his Generalized Empirical Method. His writings are the subject of a 25 volume collection being edited by the University of Toronto Press.
Continental philosophy
European philosophers of the 20th century launched a number of philosophical movements that were revolutionary both within philosophy and in the larger culture. These movements—phenomenology, existentialism and deconstruction—were often not well-received in North American universities, but they have been a regular and growing part of the philosophical landscape of North America since the 1950s, and Canadian universities have played an important role in the development and dissemination of these philosophical ideas. In the 1970s and 1980s, the University of Toronto in particular was internationally known for its experts in what is often called "continental philosophy
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...
". Emil Fackenheim
Emil Fackenheim
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim, Ph.D. was a noted Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi.Born in Halle, Germany, he was arrested by the Nazis on the night of November 9, 1938, known as Kristallnacht...
, Kenneth L. Schmitz, Graeme Nicholson, and others made the University of Toronto an international centre for the study of these approaches to philosophical inquiry. At the same time Graeme Nicholson's teacher James Doull
James Doull
James Alexander Doull was a Canadian philosopher and academic who was born and lived most of his life in Nova Scotia. His father was the politician, jurist, and historian John Doull. From the late 1940s until the mid 1980s he taught in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University in Halifax...
, a Hegelian whom Emil Fackenheim
Emil Fackenheim
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim, Ph.D. was a noted Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi.Born in Halle, Germany, he was arrested by the Nazis on the night of November 9, 1938, known as Kristallnacht...
notably debated in print on matters relating to the interpretation of Hegel, taught philosophy as well as classical literature in the Classics Department at Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
in Halifax. Currently, the University of Toronto, with scholars such as Robert Gibbs and Rebecca Comayhttp://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=17143, the University of Guelph, with Jay Lampert and John Russon
John Russon
John Russon is a Canadian philosopher, working primarily in the tradition of Continental Philosophy. In 2006, he was named Presidential Distinguished Professor at the University of Guelph.-Education:...
, and McGill University, with scholars such as Philip Buckley, George Di Giovanni, Hasana Sharp and Alia Al-Saji, are major North American centers for research and teaching in the continental traditions of philosophy.
Associations and related activities
These years saw Canadian philosophy develop to the point where a professional organization, The Canadian Philosophical AssociationThe Canadian Philosophical Association
The Canadian Philosophical Association was founded in 1958 as a bilingual non-profit organization devoted to philosophy professionals in Canada. It currently claims over 700 members, and publishes both a Bulletin and a quarterly journal, Dialogue...
(ACPA), was established in 1958 to encourage and promote philosophy in Canada. This was followed by the founding of regional associations in Ontario, Quebec, the west and Atlantic Canada, and the initiation of the Canadian Philosophical Association Annual Congress. The professional journal, Dialogue
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review is a peer reviewed philosophical journal, publishing articles and book reviews in English and French, edited by E. Dayton and M. Marion. The journal is rated "B" in the European Reference Index in the Humanities .- External links :*...
was established in 1962, and the Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Canadian Journal of Philosophy
The Canadian Journal of Philosophy is a philosophy journal, founded in 1971 by John King-Farlow, Kai Nielsen, T.M. Penelhum, and W.W. Rozeboom...
in 1971. Philosophers of note who have been published there include, Joel Feinberg
Joel Feinberg
Joel Feinberg was an American political and social philosopher. He is known for his work in the fields of ethics, action theory, philosophy of law, and political philosophy as well as individual rights and the authority of the state...
(1974), Jonathan Bennett (philosopher)
Jonathan Bennett (philosopher)
Jonathan Francis Bennett is a British philosopher of language and metaphysics, and a historian of early modern philosophy.Born in Greymouth, New Zealand, Bennett was educated at the University of Oxford. He has taught at the University of Cambridge , Simon Fraser University , the University of...
(1974), Terence Parsons
Terence Parsons
Terence Parsons is an American contemporary philosopher of the analytic tradition. Parsons is also a Professor at UCLA in its Department of Philosophy....
(1980), William C. Wimsatt
William C. Wimsatt
William C. Wimsatt is a professor in the Department of Philosophy, the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science , and the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago...
(1994) and David Gauthier
David Gauthier
David Gauthier is a Canadian-American philosopher best known for his neo-Hobbesian social contract theory of morality, as laid out in his book Morals by Agreement.-Biography:...
(1994).
See also
- List of Canadian philosophers
- Scientific research in CanadaScientific research in CanadaThis article outlines the history of natural scientific research in Canada, including mathematics, physics, astronomy, space science, geology, oceanography, chemistry, biology, medical research and psychology...
- Anarchism in CanadaAnarchism in CanadaAnarchism in Canada spans a range of anarchist philosophy including anarchist communism, green anarchy, anarcho-syndicalism, individualist anarchism, Libertarian Communism as well as other lesser known forms...
- Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of MathematicsCanadian Society for History and Philosophy of MathematicsThe Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics is dedicated to the study of the history and philosophy of mathematics in Canada....