Lectures and Events

Engage with the community through one of SFU Continuing Studies’ public lectures, events, or forums. Most are free, and admission is open to anyone. Some events require reservations.

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Are “Organic Foods” for Real?
The demand for organic food is on a constant increase. There is not a single supermarket that does not have an organic food section. This has spilled into other areas such as organic pet foods. But does the organic food industry deliver the promise of non-contaminated, fully natural and residue-free products?
Thu, 04 Sep 2014 8:00 PM
The Writer's Studio Reading Series in Vancouver
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Ethical Investing: What Are the Issues for University Stakeholders?
SFU is currently debating the implications of ethical investing initiatives such as the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investing and Fossil Free Funds. Should the university’s endowment or pension plans embrace these initiatives?
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Bring Back the Guillotine
Arbitrarily seizing the wealth of the world’s 100 richest people to fund education, research, infrastructure, etc. would improve human existence overall (even if only by forcing these 100 “job creators” to renew/redouble efforts toward economic development). Or is this “a bridge too far”?
Wed, 10 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Truth and Its Enemies
What is truth and how can we know it? Why is lying so abhorrent to us? Why do we tolerate so much bullshit?
Sat, 13 Sep 2014 11:30 AM
Liberal Arts Program Info Session
Sat, 13 Sep 2014 1:30 PM
Saturday Forum | Back to School: School vs. Education
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 10:00 AM
Philosophers' Café | Universality?
What is a universal truth or ethical principle that might be understood and accepted by all cultures and countries?
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 6:30 PM
Teen Café | To What Extent do the Unrealistic Images in Mass Media Influence Your Everyday Choices?
Do images in the media run your life? Do you strive to look like the unrealistic image shown, thinking it will bring you happiness and fulfillment in life?
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | What Would Happen If We Gave Children Rights and Respect?
What would our society look like if we treated children and teens more like human beings equal to adults and less like cute pets or wild animals?
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | What Is Prostitution? (suitable for adults only)
Parliament is currently drafting new laws against prostitution after the Supreme Court struck down existing law as unconstitutional. But prostitution has never been defined in the Criminal Code. How can we draft laws on something that is not defined? While case law has identified main elements, there are many grey areas that bear exploring. Suitable for adults only.
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | On Bullshit
A consideration of the claims made in Harry Frankfurt’s book On Bullshit.
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | “The Dumb Thunder of Love”: Erich Maria Remark—Creation and Life
Fri, 19 Sep 2014 10:30 AM
Philosophers' Café | World War Won?
The First World (or “Great”) War started in July 100 years ago. How might the world be different today than it might have been without this major conflict?
Fri, 19 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Freedom
How free are you? What is freedom? What is political freedom? What is spiritual freedom?
Thu, 25 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Private Property/Public Space
What are the social dimensions of private property?
Sat, 27 Sep 2014 1:30 PM
Surrey Previews | How Galileo Changed Our World
Sat, 27 Sep 2014 3:00 PM
Art Salons | Jürgen Partenheimer: The Archive—The Raven Diaries
Join us as we explore the first solo exhibition in Canada of work by acclaimed German artist Jürgen Partenheimer. Reflecting the diversity of the artist’s practice, the exhibition comprises works on paper, text, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture, produced in Vancouver in spring 2014 during his recent residency as the Audain Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, hosted by Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Human Experience, Greatest Freedom and Society
Does the current nature of human experience represent an existential state where all our natural capacities have developed to afford humanity the greatest freedom? Is the conception of natural capacities intrinsically linked to society? What, after all, is a society? What is at the core of the idea of “greatest freedom”? How compatible is ego with the idea of collective or society?

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | The Global Supply Chain
A recent issue of the journal Science was fully dedicated to the global supply chain (6 June 2014: Vol. 344 no. 6188 pp. 1100-1103). The fact that we can buy the exact same iPod or car in both China and Canada is a result of massive globalization. The energy and resources needed to feed this system impose a major stress on the planet’s resources. Exploring changes to this system opens interesting discussions as to how we are facing our common future.
Mon, 06 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Happiness/Subjective Well-Being
In regard to a person’s self reported positive emotions, what are the antecedents and consequences of happiness and subjective well-being?
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | What Are Arts Research and/or Performance Research?
Is there such a thing? What do colleagues in other disciplines think about the place of the arts and of artists in the academy?
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 9:30 AM
Writing Fundamentals for Liberal Arts Non-Credit Certificate (55+)
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Can We Learn to Face Death Without Regrets?
If so, we would have a strategy for preventing the story of our lives from ending as tragedy. We look to philosophy for an answer.
Thu, 09 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Is English Becoming the Language of the World?
What would our society look like if we treated children and teens more like human beings equal to adults and less like cute pets or wild animals?
Wed, 15 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Evil in Modern Thought
How do we make responsible moral judgments in the face of evil?
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | What Is Modern Professionalism in Architecture? (Social, Cultural and Technological Approaches)
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 10:30 AM
Philosophers' Café | Desirability of “Disruptive Innovation”?
A disruptive innovation helps create a new market and value network, and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network displacing an earlier technology. What are the costs, benefits and alternatives?
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Values
What are values? What is the origin of value? What are we obliged to value? How are we to deal with value conflict?
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Science Literacy
There has been (another) recent upsurge of interest in science education. How should we determine what science is taught in schools? How much science education should be compulsory? What does it mean to be a scientifically literate person?
Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:00 AM
Philosophers' Café | Conspiracy Theories
Is technological change more of a reliable workhorse or a runaway stagecoach?
Tue, 21 Oct 2014 6:30 PM
Teen Café | Nature vs. Values?
Is monogamy the answer? Will future generations strive for marriage and raising a family?
Tue, 21 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Paradoxes of Globalization
Dilemmas and controversies abound in our internationalized world. For example, free trade is embraced in theory by economists, but in practice can lead to disruption of traditional ways of life and livelihood. Free movement of people across borders is a North American and European ideal, but in practice people fear threats to their jobs.
Tue, 21 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | From NIMBY to NBNPA (No Backyard Needed, Please Apply)?
While the term NIMBY has a negative connotation, current residents are not naïve in their suspicious attitude toward new residential development. What are some key factors in creating community consent for new “infill” development, and are we at a critical threshold of density and city living in Vancouver right now?
Thu, 23 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Should We/Government Increase Taxes to Underwrite Public Education?
In decades past public schools seemed better funded and post secondary education considerably more affordable. What, if anything, has changed and why?
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Religion, Science and the State
Are the social juggernauts like religion and science neutral human endeavours existing independent of the constraints and demands of the State?

Sat, 01 Nov 2014 1:30 PM
Saturday Forum | Snap, Crackle and Pop!: A Short History of Noise
Sat, 01 Nov 2014 3:00 PM
Art Salons | Gunilla Klingberg
Join us for a tour and discussion of the first Canadian solo presentation of work by Swedish artist Gunilla Klingberg, a series of inter-related projects on the gallery façade and off-site. Klingberg’s practice can be located at the point of intersection between common knowledge, folk beliefs and popular culture. At the gallery and the Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, two murals of seemingly quasi-oriental pattern are presented. Evoking cosmic mandalas, transforming the space, her work surrounds and visually seduces viewers, this interest in using patterns to manipulate our seeing, links with Op Art and the psychedelic movement of the late sixties, appropriate touchstones in the recent history of this part of the world.
Mon, 03 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | The Future of Privacy
In the “post-Snowden” digital age we have learned a good deal about two topics previously thought of as unrelated: privacy from corporate interests and surveillance by government. What’s next and what can we do about it?
Thu, 06 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Are Wars Catalysts for Scientific and Technological Innovation?
A significant number of scientific discoveries and technological advances of which we are accustomed today were the result of research carried out under the stresses imposed on Western society during the two world wars. Was this a coincidence? Is threat to the human species a key catalyst for innovation or can peacetime be a better choice?
Mon, 10 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | What Are History’s Most Important Lessons
WW1 was the “war to end all wars”; WW2 “saved democracy”; the Cold War “saved capitalism”; the Gulf War (and WTO) era “ensured prosperity”; the War on Terror?
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Privacy in the Digital Age
Governments wish to gain access to our personal information for the sake of security. Companies wish to do the same to make money. How private should we expect our personal information to be when we make it accessible online?
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | No Place to Hide
Is privacy vanishing in the age of total surveillance? Do we care?
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 10:00 AM
Philosophers' Café | Reasons Reasoning
Some people say that everything happens for a reason. What is the reason?
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 6:30 PM
Teen Café | What Does the Future of Education Look Like?
What do you want to be taught in schools? If you had a chance to shape your own education what would you like to learn about?
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Is Inequality a Problem?
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | The Book Is Dead. Long Live the eBook: The Future of the Book in a Digital Age
A recent issue of the journal Science was fully dedicated to the global supply chain (6 June 2014: Vol. 344 no. 6188 pp. 1100-1103). The fact that we can buy the exact same iPod or car in both China and Canada is a result of massive globalization. The energy and resources needed to feed this system impose a major stress on the planet’s resources. Exploring changes to this system opens interesting discussions as to how we are facing our common future.
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Nursing Homes: Warehousing or Safe Keeping?
Over a quarter of a million older adults in Canada live in nursing homes. Most of these individuals have Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. The population is aging and this topic is becoming increasingly pertinent within the context of our health care system. What is the current state of nursing homes and is institutional care needed?
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Research in Exercise and Nutrition: What do we really know?
Research into the human response to exercise and nutritional regimes is very difficult. We search for correlations between variables and logical explanations of why these correlations exist. What do we really know? What is universally accepted by experts in these fields and what areas are still uncertain?
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Self-Forgiveness
We will examine the nature, role and limit of self-forgiveness in the context of moral self-repair.
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Religion and Human Rights: How Are the Biblical Canons Compatible with the Idea of a Human Free Will?
Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:30 AM
Philosophers' Café | Organ “Donation” or “Confiscation”?
What could some Canadians stand to gain and what could some stand to lose if organ donation/confiscation were compulsory in Canada?
Fri, 21 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Meaning
What is the meaning of “meaning”? How does meaning arise? Is meaning a social practice or subjective and private? Can meaning be oppressive?
Tue, 25 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Consumption and Accumulation
Do we consume only what is needed for sustenance? Are our contemporary consumptive practices driven by a need for accumulation? How compatible is our need for accumulation with the notions of the greatest freedom, religion or even science?
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Being Smart Is Stupid?
B.C.’s Premier dropped out of three universities but is (consequently?) “able to communicate with people.” If millennials actually do face reduced career opportunities, are the costs of further education perhaps a “bad” idea? If we chose not to concern ourselves with esoteric distraction couldn’t we make more income and thus have more fun?
Sat, 29 Nov 2014 1:30 PM
Surrey Previews | Berlin, 1914: A City at War

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Science and Science Fiction
How do the disciplines of science and the genres of science fiction inform one another? In what ways might science fiction play a role in science education?
Thu, 04 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Electronic Cigarettes—A Safe Substitute to Smoking?
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are becoming more and more popular, not just among smokers, but non-smokers alike. Proponents of e-cigarettes claim that they are a safe alternative to regular cigarettes. But where is the evidence to back this claim? How do e-cigarettes work and what are the risks involved in this activity?
Sat, 06 Dec 2014 3:00 PM
Art Salons | Shimabuku
Join us as we explore the major survey of acclaimed Japanese artist Shimabuku. The exhibition will include installation, video, drawings and performance never before seen in Canada. Shimabuku holds a fascination with the natural world and the countless manifestations of human culture within it. Incongruity characterizes much of his work, inventing the way things are usually seen to encourage us to break with established habits and to enjoy experiences as if happening for the first time.
Mon, 08 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | The War on Terror
Osama may be dead but is America/the West safer since 9/11? How about “better,” given the perceived loss of civil liberties and worldwide prestige? Can this “war” ever end, much less be “won”?
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Pantheism
Is the entire universe divine? Do the eco-philosophies of our time lead us back to this ancient worldview?
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Euroscepticism: Causes and Consequences
In the recent elections for the European Parliament, parties that question the desirability of European unification made significant gains, especially in the U.K. and France. What are the possible causes of this change and what are the consequences for Europe and the rest of the world?
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:00 AM
Philosophers' Café | Gifts That Keep Giving?
In this season of caring and sharing, what is a gift that can last and truly keep on giving?
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Teen Café | Immortality
What is immortality? If you had a chance to be immortal would you? Why or why not?
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Making Sense of Spin
What strategies and filters do we need to withstand onslaughts of misinformation?
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Phoenicia and Her Role in the History of Antic Countries of the Mediterranean
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 10:30 AM
Philosophers' Café | Philanthropy—Our Best Way to Give?
What are the pros and cons of philanthropy providing wide and significant benefits to society? Could additional taxation or some other solution serve us better?
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 7:00 PM
Philosophers' Café | Mindfulness
What can mindfulness teach us? What are the factors of mindfulness? What are the misuses and misnomers of mindfulness?

Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Continuing Studies

Lectures and Events

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014