Identity and Justice

In this provocative study of the task of English-Canadian philosophy, Ian Angus contends that English Canada harbours a secret and unofficial dream of self-rule that is revealed through critiques of empire. Looking at the main tensions between local dwelling and the globalized market, Identity and Justice shows how contemporary society’s reactions to technological advances and a world market economy have produced increasingly isolated individuals and prevented the emergence of a coherent community based on a universalizing philosophy.

Stressing the importance of regionalism and postcolonial understandings, Angus argues that Canada requires a philosophy of independent parts through a conception of universality that subordinates rulership to a negotiation between diverse communities. Through discussion of the work of prominent Canadian thinkers, notably Harold Innis, John Porter, George Grant, and Marshall McLuhan, Angus identifies and explores key themes that define the distinctiveness of English Canada, primarily those related to power and empire, dominant and innovative modes of perception and thought, transportation, communication, community, ethnicity, and collective action.

A penetrating examination of some of Canada’s national myths and the phenomenology of locality in the twenty-first century, Identity and Justice is a groundbreaking critique and recovery of English Canadian social and political thought.