Philosophy

Revisiting the Challenges Facing Canadian Higher Education: The Limits of Crisis-Thinking

By Sharon Stein UBC Are our individual and institutional responses appropriately calibrated to the scale and complexity of the moment we are actually in? After all, we cannot “solve” planetary and geopolitical challenges at the level of curriculum, technology, or individual resilience. We cannot, and arguably should not, seek to extend an extractive system indefinitely.Continue reading “Revisiting the Challenges Facing Canadian Higher Education: The Limits of Crisis-Thinking”

The Coming of the Ecological University

“Universities have been with us on this Earth for at least one thousand years and will surely be with us in the future; perhaps so long as there is life on this planet that has any well-being. There is now something in not just the name of the institution but in the idea of the university that seemsContinue reading “The Coming of the Ecological University”

A Quantum Year of Turmoil

We are in the International Year of Quantum (IYQ). Can the conceptual turmoil in physics one hundred years ago tell us anything about doing science amidst the political turmoil we experience today?Karen O’Brien Feb 2025 The International Year of Quantum (IYQ)How exciting! The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum ScienceContinue reading “A Quantum Year of Turmoil”

Paradigm Shakes

We seem to be stuck in a dangerous and destructive paradigm. Our current approach to climate change is painfully inadequate. Will shifting paradigms be easier if we start with a few small shakes?Karen O’Brien Jan 20 ExtremesThese are not easy times. It’s hard to watch the news and read the latest climate projections. And it’sContinue reading “Paradigm Shakes”

THE URGENT NEED FOR AN ACADEMIC REVOLUTION IN OUR UNIVERSITIES

By NICHOLAS MAXWELL- PHILOSOPHER We might put the matter like this. Humanity faces two fundamental problems of learning: learning about the universe and us and other forms of life as a part of the universe; and learning how to create a genuinely good, civilized, wise world. We have solved the first problem of learning. WeContinue reading “THE URGENT NEED FOR AN ACADEMIC REVOLUTION IN OUR UNIVERSITIES”