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From the archives

When Terror Came to Canada

The response to the FLQ crisis remains controversial five decades later

A Neglected Pledge

Moving beyond apologies

The Nobel of Numbers

How a Hamilton native played mathematical peacemaker after World War One

Joseph Heath

Joseph Heath teaches philosophy at the University of Toronto. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Articles by
Joseph Heath

Here, No Evil

Are there bad people or just bad deeds? October 2019
Evil has always been a problem. Obviously it is a practical problem, in the sense that we would like people to be less evil. But it is a conceptual one as well. In fact, for over two thousand years theologians and philosophers have been puzzled by what they call “the problem of evil.” One can see how the difficulty arises just by contemplating the traditional Christian view that God is perfectly good and infinitely…

Trading Fair

The slippery slope of industry self-regulation. May 2015
Although we spend a great deal of time teaching children to think critically, it actually does not take a great deal of insight or education to uncover moral flaws in the world around us. For example, when it comes to the market economy, no one has much difficulty coming up with an objection to the arrangement under which affluent western consumers line up to pay $3 for a fancy cup of…

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Why is it that even when we know the right thing to do, we don’t do it? December 2011
A couple of years ago, while contemplating the dandelions running riot alongside the road in front of my house, I decided it was time to get a weed whacker. I went down to my local Canadian Tire to see what was available. Being an environmentally sensitive guy, I picked out a nice 18-volt battery-powered one. I returned…

Did the Banks Go Crazy?

Whatever economists might think, rationality and efficiency don’t always go together September 2009
The great financial crisis of 2008 has provoked an extraordinary round of soul searching among economists. The reasons for this are not difficult to find. Not only did most members of the profession fail to predict the impending catastrophe, but many actively contributed to it, by aggressively rationalizing the very practices and institutional arrangements that gave rise to the collapse of the…