Faculty and staff

I was born in New Westminster, British Columbia but I’ve had the privilege of living in diverse locations in Canada. My elementary school years were spent in La Tuque, Quebec and I remain grateful for the experiences there that indelibly shaped my character. In addition to many years spent living in various parts of BC, I spent seven years living in London, Ontario while completing my PhD at the University of Western Ontario (Western). I now live in Ottawa with my partner and our dogs.

I completed an Honours BA in philosophy at the University of Victoria (U-Vic) in Victoria, BC in 1984 and subsequently an MA in philosophy at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver in 1987. I attended Western from 1987 to 1994 where I focused on philosophy of science and early Analytic philosophy.

Throughout my career, teaching has been a passion. I began teaching as a graduate student in my second year of studies at Western (1988/1989). In my final year there (1993/1994) I was honoured with the privilege of teaching two courses in the undergraduate honours stream, a first for a graduate student at that department. My first post-doctoral teaching appointment was a two-year leave replacement at Okanagan University College (now UBC Okanagan). In the following year (1996/1997) I taught at Simon Fraser University, Kwantlen University College, Langara College, and Douglas College before landing a permanent position at Capilano College (now Capilano University - CapU) in 1997. I taught at CapU for 11 years before resigning this position in 2008 to move to Ottawa where I worked briefly as a policy analyst for Health Canada. I re-engaged my teaching career in January 2009 at Langara College where I taught Business Ethics until the spring term of 2023, and I commenced teaching at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) in Fall 2009. I was Associate Professor of philosophy there until my retirement in August 2023 and I am now Professor Emeritus.

At UFV, my teaching focused on the Empiricist and Analytic traditions, including advanced courses in the history of Analytic Philosophy and Symbolic Logic. In addition, I created and developed a course titled, PHIL412: Corporations, Globalization, and Ethics. This course was the inspiration for my recent book, A Philosopher’s Guide to Natural Capitalism: A Sustainable Future Within Reach (Routledge, 2024). The course and the book are deeply reflective of my interests and passions: issues arising out of the globalization of consumer capitalism, including inequality of opportunity, diminished democracy, environmental damage, worker exploitation, economic imperialism, and climate change and sustainability. In regards to the latter, I am particularly concerned about the welfare of wildlife as a result of habitat loss and the welfare of animals generally as a result of exploitive, mass-production agricultural practices. I continue to work actively in these subject areas, conducting research, attending conferences and publishing.

Outside of work, I am keenly interested in fitness (cycling and weightlifting are my preferred activities), photography and music. With photography, I focus on the interface of the artefactual world of humans and the natural world, and I like to work with texture and shading in the context of black & white photos. I am planning a long-term photo essay to document the effects of climate change in the Ottawa area. My interests in music are diverse. I like Rock, particularly Progressive Rock, but I also love country, blues, jazz, power pop, and classical. I plays drums and guitar and I have a personal music collection of several thousand titles (vinyl records, CD’s, and digital).