The following is an archive of past Philosophers' Jams

2011

  • September 20, 2011: The Idea of "The Good City": Idealogy, Morality, and the Future of Cities | Guest Speaker: Julie Longo
  • October 18, 2011: Prostitution in Canada: The Challenges for Policy Makers and Legislators | Guest Speaker: Chris Atchison
  • November 15, 2011: Is Recycling the New Religion? | Guest Speaker: Lee Moller
  • December 13, 2011: Is It Possible to Be a Good Sport? | Guest Speaker: John Russell

2012

  • January 12, 2012: Underlying Sexual Dynamics of the Environmental Crisis: Why Saving the Earth Won't Be Easy | Guest Speaker: Kurt Preinsperg
  • February 9, 2012: Do (Some) Safety Rules Do More Harm Than Good? | Guest Speaker: Richard Johns
  • March 8, 2012: Gun Control: The Long and Short of It | Guest Speaker: Johnna Fischer
  • April 12, 2012: State of the Art: Should the Government Fund the Arts? | Guest Speaker: Kerry Regier
  • September 20, 2012: Transhumanism: Enhanced human or diminished humanity? | Guest Speaker: Peter McKnight
  • October 18, 2012: Does Modern Education Miss the Point? | Guest Speaker: Dale Beyerstein
  • November 15, 2012: Seduced Into Gangs: Is There a Connection Between Alienation & Gang Violence? | Guest Speaker: Indira Prahst
  • November 29, 2012: Do People Really Have Minds? And If They Do, What Good Are They Anyway? | Guest Speaker: Wayne Henry

2013

  • January 17, 2013: How We Create Life's Meaning | Guest Speaker: Kurt Preinsperg
  • February 28, 2013: The Case for Medically Assisted Dying in Canada | Guest Speaker: Wanda Morris
  • March 21, 2013: What's Fair | Guest Speaker: Alister Browne
  • September 19, 2013: Does Privacy Still Matter? | Guest Speaker: Micheal Vonn
  • October 17, 2013: Would You Want To Live in Utopia? | Guest Speaker: John Russell
  • November 21, 2013: Positive and Negative Liberty | Guest Speaker: Tim Christie

2014

  • February 6, 2014: Are You Nuts? Of Course There's Such a Thing as Mental Illness | Guest Speaker: Dale Beyerstein
  • March 13, 2014: How Sensitive is Your Funny Bone? | Guest Speaker: Assaulted Fish Sketch Comedy
  • March 27, 2014: Aboriginal People and Justice: How Can It Be Achieved? | Guest Speaker: Larry Railton
  • September 18, 2014: International Aid & Dependency | Guest Speaker: Sylvia Berryman
  • October 16, 2014: The Metaphysics of Love | Guest Speakers: Jasper Heaton and Aida Rolge Mas
  • Nov 20, 2014: Do Colleges Have Academic Freedom? | Guest Speaker: Lane Trotter

2015

  • Jan 15, 2015: Can ancient ideas make us happy? | Guest Speaker: Michael Griffin
  • Feb 15, 2015: Tough Choices: Philosophy meets Medicine | Guest Speakers: Dale Beyerstein and Mary Kruger
  • Mar 19, 2015: You may already be an Anarchist | Guest Speaker: Edrie Sobstyl
  • Jun 17, 2015: Privacy and National Security | Guest Speakers: Micheal Vonn and Carmen Cheung
  • Sept 24, 2015: Constructing "the economy" | Guest Speaker: Margaret Schabas
  • Oct 8, 2015: Mandatory Voting | Guest Speaker: Murray Mollard
  • Oct 21, 2015: Consumer Capitalism | Guest Speaker: Wayne Henry
  • Nov 19, 2015: Collective Action and Rationality | Guest Speaker: Alister Browne

2016

  • Jan 21, 2016: Perspectives on Terrorism | Guest Speaker: Indira Prahst
  • Feb 4, 2016: Cross-Cultural Romance | Guest Speaker: Faizal Sahukhan
  • March 17, 2016: Moral Excuses | Guest Speaker: Brian Garrett
  • Sept 21, 2016: Technology and the Mind | Guest Speaker: Martin Godwyn
  • Oct 20, 2016: Psychology, Philosophy and the Brain | Guest Speaker: Wayne Fenske
  • Nov 10, 2016: Vaccination Compliance | Guest Speaker: Katharine Browne

2017

  • Jan 18, 2017: Navigating Life's Predicaments: Core Insights of Existentialism | Guest Speaker: Kurt Preinsperg

  • Feb 15, 2017: Ultimate Responsibility and Self-Construction | Guest Speaker: Brian Garrett

  • Mar 15, 2017: What Good is Play | Guest Speaker: John Russell 

2018

  • Jan 25, 2018: Why psychologists believe weird things | Guest Speaker: Dale Beyerstein
  • Feb 22, 2018: Conspiracy theories and critical thinking | Guest Speaker: Richard Johns
  • Apr 5, 2018: What’s the point of free speech? | Guest Speaker: Kent Schmor
  • Apr 12, 2018: Fake news, the new media, and academic freedom | Andrew Irvine
  • Sep 27, 2018: From the Inside: Private Experience within an Embodied Brain | Liam Dempsey
  • Oct 25, 2018: How Stoicism Can Be Useful Today | Alex Boston
  • Nov 25, 2018: Attention Rights | Sebastian Watzl

2021

  • Sept 30, 2021: Social media algorithms and democratic political culture | Guest Speaker: Regina Rini (York University)

  • December 3, 2021: Rethinking Vaccine Hesitancy | Guest Speaker: Maya Goldenberg (University of Guelph)

2022

  • February 3, 2022: Explaining and Intervening in Epidemics | Guest Speaker: Jonathan Fuller (University of Pittsburgh)
  • March 17, 2022:Free Speech on Campus | Guest Speaker: Sigal Ben-Porath (University of Pennsylvania)
  • May 26, 2022: Bernard Suits and the Paradox of the Perfectly Played Game | Guest Speaker: Christopher C. Yorke (Langara College)
  • November 30, 2022: Sad Love | Guest Speaker: Carrie Jenkins (University of British Columbia)

2023

  • February 8, 2023: Chatting with an AI, chatting with a human, what's the difference? | Guest Speaker: Marc Champagne (Kwantlen)
  • November 23, 2023: Losing Privacy and Living the Sound Bite Life Guest Speaker | Chelsea Rosenthal (Simon Fraser University)
  • November 23, 2023: Losing Privacy and Living the Sound Bite Life Guest Speaker | Chelsea Rosenthal (Simon Fraser University)

2024

  • April 5, 2024: From Ivory Towers to Public Squares: Post-Secondary Education's Role In Increasing Scientific Literacy | Guest Speaker:  Dr. Johanne Penafiel (Langara)