Nov
19
Binging on Netflix or philosophizing?
Molly Lewis, University of British Columbia
“There is nothing in philosophy which could not be said in everyday language,” once said the twentieth-century French philosopher Henri Bergson.
In other words, what makes philosophy attractive is that it expresses what we instinctively believe to be true, but perhaps never put into words before. Philosophy makes sense of how the world works. It makes tangible what is intangible: the nature of our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It articulates what often goes unarticulated. But philosophy does not only happen in treatises and classrooms. Television, too, can urge us to see images of our world in a thought-provoking manner. The way in...
“Productivity” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, especially in times of economic uncertainty. Governments, financial institutions and media commentators are all concerned with measuring, increasing and stimulating Canada’s productivity. But what does the concept of productivity actually mean beyond a gross domestic product (GDP)? Karen Foster, one of this year’s Banting Postdoctoral Fellows, will tackle this question during her research at Saint Mary’s University. The title of her post-doctoral research project is “Beyond the numbers: the meaning and measure of productivity in Canada.”
Over the past decade, border crossing has become a national security concern of growing importance, with states increasingly turning to surveillance technologies, databases and smart IDs to control migration flows. Criticism about the increased securitization of borders is generally levelled at states, which, according to 2012 Banting Postdoctoral Fellow Martin Geiger, ignores a major player in migration management – industry.
Laure Guirguis, née d’une mère française et d’un père égyptien chrétien, parle l’arabe et a régulièrement séjourné en Égypte depuis son enfance.
With innovations like babies with three genetic parents, what is reality in the field of reproductive technology today seems like it would have been science fiction mere decades ago. And while reproductive technology has helped thousands of couples with reproductive issues, same sex couples and single parents start families, policy and research around the field is lagging. One area of concern that remains largely unaddressed is the international human egg trade and its implications for women on both sides of the transaction.