Is There a Canadian Philosophy?: Reflections on the Canadian Identity

Notes

NATIONALITY ANDUNIVERSALITY something that philosophy can ignore, and Canadians, sur­ rounded as they are by enough material to motivate them to rethink such concepts as sovereignty, citizenship, and nation­ hood, are superbly situated for articulating the appropriate philosophy. In the new era of global civilization, the Canadian philosophy has its own unique contribution to make to the construction of national identities that are no longer ethno­ centric and nationalistic but truly cosmopolitan, contributing in this way to the building of a universal, democratic culture of human rights. The "national" philosophy of Canada is in no way nation­ alistic. Viewed from a "cosmopolitan point of view" (as Kant might say), it is, while being distinctly Canadian, a contribu­ tion on the part of Canadian citizens to a postmodern philos­ ophy of liberal internationalism, and what it has to say fully merits a place in what Michael Oakeshott called the "conver­ sation of mankind" (Oakeshott 1962). Canada is no Shangri­ la, nor is it a "shining city on a hill," but to the degree that the Canadian philosophy is the articulation of many of the core principles of the postnational, liberal democracy that Canadi­ ans are struggling to implement in their own society, to that degree it is a philosophy that has something important to say to human beings everywhere.The Canadian philosophy isuni­ versally "applicable"—mutatis mutandis—in all other nations seeking to develop (post)modern civil societies. It is, as it were, but a particular instantiation of what Elie Wiesel has called a "world­wide secular religion," the universal philoso­ phy of democracy and human rights (see Ignatieff 1999,58). Guided by this "national" philosophy—as well as the age­old philosophical idea of humanitas—Canadians have important, hard­won lessons to offer the various peoples of the world, as well as serious moral obligations in this regard. 1. Although no mention is made of Canada in the "Tableau recapitulatif" on pp. 203­205, it is nonetheless stated that UNESCO did receive a reply from Canada to its questionnaire (see p. 63); Prof. Jack Iwanicke of the Universityof New Brunswick is the sole respondent indicated (see p. 213). 71 IS THERE A CANADIAN PHILOSOPHY? 2. The high proportion of non­native Canadians in the Canadian professo­ rial (mainly British and American)is due to the rapid expansion ofthe university system in the 1960s. How many of these foreign­born and foreign­trained phi­ losophers ever got around to taking out Canadian citizenship is impossible to as­ certain. 3. Asin the case of many former British and French colonies in Africa, Ca­ nadian philosophy could be said to be in search of a "postcolonial" identity. In regard to Africa, see for instance, Wiredu 1996. One Canadian philosopher states: "In Quebec we have seen in this century movements amongst philoso­ phers reacting to colonialism, which bears some similarity to the African events" (Stevenson 1986,28). 4. Perceiving the Canadian Philosophical Association to be inordinately dominated by an analytic agenda, Canadian "continentals" founded in 1984 the Canadian Society for Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought in order to pro­ vide an institutional forum for the discussion of issues in continental thought. 5. For surveys of Continental philosophy in Canada, see Madison 1985 and Nicholson 1993, as well as the entry on Canada in Embree 1997. 6. Under the instigation of the federal government in Ottawa, the prov­ inces of Canada have, on again, off again, discussed the establishment of free trade among themselves—with no noteworthy, substantial agreements to date. Trade between Canadian provinces and American states continues to be "freer" than between Canadian provinces themselves. 7. While the American Union rests on a well­definedpolitical philosophy, Canada owes its unity and its very existence as a country mainly to expediency and the building of the transcontinental railway. Cf. Trudeau 1996: "It has been said that the binding force of the United States of America was the idea of liber­ ty, and certainly none of the relevant constitutional documents lets us forget it. By comparison, the Canadian nation seems to be founded on the common sense of empirical politicians who had wanted to establish some law and order over a disjointed half­continent" (198­199). 8. For a modified,published version of this text, see Howard 1999. 9. For attempts at delineating some of the main features of Canadian phi­ losophy on an abstract, theoretical level, see items in the bibliography to this chapter marked with an asterisk. 10. This pluralism was well represented in...