ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author wants to celebrate Leslie Armour’s significant contribution to the history of philosophy in Canada. To date the premier work in the history of English Canadian philosophy is The Faces of Reason: An Essay on Philosophy and Culture in English Canada 1850–1950, by Leslie Armour and Elizabeth Trott. The author describes what was out there before Armour and Trott did their research. In the early 1950s, University of Toronto Professor John Irving produced a number of pieces on English Canada’s philosophical heritage. He set the standard for the work that followed, and it is important to highlight his publications in this area. Leslie Armour and Betty Trott were motivated to write The Faces of Reason after a series of very hot and emotionally-charged debates at the University of Waterloo which took place in the context of the discussions spurred on by Robin Mathews and James Steele’s controversial work on the americanization of Canadian Universities.