UBC Philosophy Students' Association

Join us after the dialectic at on campus!

Friday, January 30th at 6pm

Join us for a good old-fashioned PHIL Cafe this Wednesday 1-2! The PHIL Cafe is a weekly discussion forum centered on a philosophical topic, question, or problem. The format varies each week depending on the host & topic. Email us at [email protected] if you are interested in hosting a PHIL Cafe of your own!
This week, we will be discussing TRANSHUMANISM:
The transhumanist movement seeks to enhance the human being beyond its biological capacities using technological means, for goals such as prolonging one’s lifespan or improving cognitive function. Some philosophers argue that transhumanism is intimately connected to Enlightenment ideals, whereby the improvement and refinement of the individual is taken under human control using rational knowledge alone. Indeed, evolutionary theory would seem to tell us both that there is nothing special or absolute about the human being in its current form, and also that the replacement of the human species with biologically-superior organisms that have a greater chance of survival would be par for the course. Transhumanism might thus be seen as a type of evolution by technical selection, in which the sanctity of the human being is eliminated in favour of technological progress. In a transhumanist vision where all human suffering, disease and infirmity is alleviated through technological innovation, at what point do we cease to be human? Moreover, if we cease to be human, what good does the transhumanist pursuit serve and for whom? Come listen, ponder, and discuss this week!

This week’s host: Vicky, a fourth year philosophy major who, in addition to philosophy, loves plaid skirts, movies, dogs, and vintage lamps.

Wednesday, January 21st
1-2pm

All of your burning questions about term two with PhilSA answered.

January Pub Night at !
6pm, January 16th.
See you there…

The UBC Journal of Philosophical Enquiries (JPE) is extending our deadline for undergraduate essay submissions for the 2025-2026 edition.  
We are a student-run academic journal which publishes exceptional philosophical writing from undergraduate students in Canada. You do not have to be a philosophy student to be considered. Please see our website for previous years’ publications: (hyperlink can be found in our bio!) https://ubcjpe.wixsite.com/mysite.
Successful authors will learn from the process of editing and revising one’s work under the guidance of faculty members and peer editors.

Students may submit a maximum of two pieces of writing, 8-20 pages double spaced in Word format, though only one may be published even if both pieces are of high merit. Please remove all names or other personal identifiers on submitted document(s). This is to keep the selection process completely anonymous. Standard typeface, formatting, margins, pagination, etc. apply. Chicago citation style is preferred, but other citation styles will be accepted on the condition that the paper be converted to Chicago if it is chosen to be edited. For more detailed guidelines and a description of the editing process, see the link to our website above.

Please send submissions to [email protected] by December 15th, 2024. Successful papers will be contacted via email and further steps will be provided. Please reach out with any further questions and we look forward to reading your papers!

Join us this Friday, December 5th for our final film screening of the term!

The Tree of Life (2011)
Directed by Terrence Malick.

4:00-6:00pm
Buch D323

This week’s Phil Cafe: Utilitarianism and Panopticon!

Jeremy Bentham is widely considered the father of utilitarianism. He formulated the first iteration of the Greatest Happiness Principle, or as he called it the fundamental axiom, arguing that the most intrinsic goodness can be measured by pleasure or lack of pain. Along with his philosophical contributions, he also was a social reformist who aimed to improve society to fit into this fundamental axiom. One of his most interesting and infamous inventions is the Panopticon. We typically know of this as regarding prisons; however, Bentham intended for it to be used in any institution as a means of monitoring agents involved. The Panopticon has since been criticized by philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists alike, due to its infringement on privacy in such a unique way. Bentham’s fundamental axiom and his proposed reforms serve as a weak point for utilitarianism as a whole.
After all: how can we accept a moral theory that so easily throws away core concepts of morality such as justice and freedom? This PhilCafe will focus primarily on Bentham’s proposal of utilitarianism and his Panopticon, and will also take a look at Michel Foucault’s famous critique of the Panopticon. Finally, we will look at modern-day applications of this issue of surveillance and discuss whether we believe this to represent a bigger issue for utilitarianism.
Some questions we will be focusing on are:
Does Bentham’s Panopticon serve as an objection towards utilitarianism generally?
Is privacy a privilege? If so, under what conditions can we justify its sacrifice?
Is justice an intrinsic element of morality, or is it merely an auxiliary issue as utilitarians argue?
Are we living in a “digital panopticon” as some modern scholars have suggested?
And many more!

About me:
I am a fourth-year Philosophy major who particularly enjoys any discussions to do with ethics! When I am not philosophizing I like to play video games, spend time outside (gazing wistfully at the foliage), or hang out with friends. My biggest fear is finding myself behind the lever that controls which track the runaway trolley will be diverted to.

thanks for coming out to November’s pub night!

November pub night!
November 21st, 6pm, Koerner’s Pub
See you there…

Join us for this week’s phil cafe, Monday, November 17th, on Free Will!

Free will generally requires the following two conditions: that an agent is the source of their actions, and that an agent could have acted otherwise. Meeting both these conditions is what philosophers typically call libertarianism. Determinism and indeterminism, both being theses about the nature of the physical universe, each pose problems for these conditions. Without free will, it would seem that our notions of responsibility, praiseworthiness, and justice are in trouble.

Do we need both of these conditions for free will? Are free will and determinism incompatible? Are they possibly compatible, and if so, does this save our notions of moral responsibility? In Finally, I want to explore the psychological and existential implications of a life with or without free will, and whether it is possible to reconcile our intuitions with this mystery and paradox. pursuing these questions, we will explore works by Peter Van Inwagen, Thomas Nagel, and Harry Frankfurt.

Hosted by Nathan!
I’m a fourth-year philosophy student. Outside of school, I keep freshwater aquatic fish, hang out with my giant dog, play my guitar, and read more philosophy. Looking forward to the discussion and sharing!

Monday, November 17th
3:30-5pm
Buch B218

Call for papers for the Journal of Philosophical Enquiries!

We are a student-run academic journal which publishes exceptional philosophical writing from undergraduate students in Canada. You do not have to be a philosophy student to be considered. Please see our website for previous years’ publications: https://ubcjpe.wixsite.com/mysite.

Successful authors will learn from the process of editing and revising one’s work under the guidance of faculty members and peer editors.

Students may submit a maximum of two pieces of writing, 8-20 pages double-spaced in Word format, though only one may be published even if both pieces are of high merit. Please remove all names or other personal identifiers on submitted document(s). This is to keep the selection process completely anonymous. Standard typeface, formatting, margins, pagination, etc. apply. Chicago citation style is preferred, but other citation styles will be accepted on the condition that the paper be converted to Chicago if it is chosen to be edited. For more detailed guidelines and a description of the editing process, see the link to our website above.

Please send submissions to [email protected] by December 10th, 2025. Successful authors will be contacted via email and further steps will be provided. Please reach out with any further questions and we look forward to reading your papers!

-Isabelle Whittall and Rebecca Higgins
Co-Editors-in-Chief

This week’s phil cafe: Philosophical perspectives on time!

Many of us are familiar with the saying, ‘carpe diem’ – to “seize the day”. It conveys the idea that we ought to live in and make most of the present, because the future is uncertain. How and when did we come to appreciate time as something that seems both endless and scarce?

So much of our knowledge, and how we go about things day-to-day, are based on this idea that time flows in one direction. In the way that we understand it, time provides the framework for ordering events, and understanding cause and effect. It’s also seen in the way that makes you, the same person that you were yesterday, or will be tomorrow. Everything seems to fundamentally be tied to existence across and in time.

This session will cover different philosophical perspectives on time, including those of Aristotle and Augustine. We will then discuss how Einstein’s special relativity challenges these notions of time.

Hosted by Hana!
I’m a 4th year philosophy student! Outside of school I especially love long, long walks and drinking warm milk with maple syrup

Monday, November 3rd
3:30-5pm