Ursula Franklin Speaks: Thoughts and Afterthoughts

by Ursula Martius Franklin, Sarah Jane Freeman

Overview

As a distinguished scientist, pacifist, and feminist, Ursula Franklin has been regularly invited by diverse groups to share her insights into the social and political impacts of science and technology. This collection contains twenty-two of Franklin's speeches and five interviews from 1986 to 2012 that have been retrieved and restored from audio and visual recordings with the help of her collaborator, Jane Freeman. These speeches and interviews, available here in print for the first time, stress the increased need for discernment and principled dialogue among Canadians. Although civic life for many Canadians has changed drastically in the past five decades, the basic principles of building and maintaining peaceful communities remain unchanged. Addressing practices of education, research, and civic life, Franklin looks to the past as well as the future to suggest collective ways of cultivating discernment and of advancing human betterment. As a whole, the collection reveals the evolution of Franklin's perspective: a perspective that is further elaborated in her afterthoughts that form the book's introduction and conclusion. Although her speeches and interviews are often critical of the status quo, Ursula Franklin Speaks is a fundamentally optimistic book, grounded in the conviction of the human capacity for compassion and understanding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773543874
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ursula Martius Franklin is a companion of the Order of Canada, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, professor emerita at the University of Toronto, and a senior fellow of Massey College. Sarah Jane Freeman is director of the Office of English Languag

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface: The How and Why of This Book Ursula Martius Franklin 3

Introduction Sarah Jane Freeman 6

Interview

1 Interview with June Callwood (National Treasures, Vision TV, November 1994) 14

Speeches Given to Citizens

2 When the Seven Deadly Sins Became the Seven Cardinal Virtues (Acceptance speech on receiving the YWCA Women of Distinction Award, Toronto, 1986) 29

3 The Legacies of War (Keynote address, Voice of Women Conference, Ottawa, 1990) 36

4 Coexistence and Technology: Society between Bitsphere and Biosphere (Polanyi Lectures, Concordia University, Montreal, 1994 and 1995) 43

5 Canada and Social Justice (An address given at a Retreat of Anglican Women in 1997) 56

6 A Drive to Know: The Glory and Hell of Science - Reflections in Memory of Jacob Bronowski (The Jacob Bronowski Memorial Lecture, New College, University of Toronto, March 2000) 64

7 Thinking about Technology (A public "University Lecture," University of Toronto, 2004) 73

8 The Holy and the Microscope; Conversations between Faith and Knowledge (Guest lecture, Newman Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, 2007) 84

9 Reflecting on the Second Wave of Feminism: 1960-2010 (Taped at Massey College for a symposium on the History of the Canadian Women's Movement, Toronto 2008) 89

Interview

10 Ursula Franklin Interviewed by Mary Hynes (Tapestry, CBC Radio, February 2007) 94

Speeches Given to Youth

11 In Conversation with Two Grade 10 Students at the Ursula Franklin Academy, 1997

12 Using Technology as if People Matter (Opening plenary, SciMaTech 96, Cowichan Campus of Malaspina College, Duncan, BC, 1996) 115

13 Developing a Li of Massey (Acceptance speech, Massey College's 40th Anniversary Awards, University of Toronto, 2004) 125

14 Three Lessons from the Natural World (Convocation address, McGill University, Montreal, 2006) 127

15 The Place of Knowledge in Our Personal and Collective Lives (Convocation address, Ryerson University, Toronto, 2012) 130

Interview

16 Interview with Dr Tarah Brookfield (Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, 2010) 13 5

Speeches Given to Professionals

17 Peace: A Necessity for an Equal Society (Conference address, An Equal Society: Into the Year 2000, Toronto, November 1986) 143

18 Educating Engineers for the Modern World (The Seventh Annual J.W. Hodgins Memorial Lecture, McMaster University, Hamilton, 1990) 149

19 Monocultures of the Soil, Monocultures of the Mind: Cautionary Tales from the Mechanization of Agriculture (Keynote address, 8th Wendy Michener Symposium for The Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans, York University, Toronto, October 1994) 159

20 The How and Why of Communication: Orienteering in Cyberspace (The Southam Lecture, given to The Canadian Communication Association, McMaster University, Hamilton, 1996) 171

21 Technology as Social Instruction (Keynote address, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, March 1998) 179

22 Research, Policy, and Action: Working for Justice through Integrated Research (Keynote address. Research in Women's Health 1999) 187

23 What Is at Stake?: Universities in Context (Keynote address, Canadian Association of University Teachers, Ottawa, 1999) 192

24 Research as a Social Enterprise: Are We Asking the Right Questions? (The Royal Society Lecture, Carleton University, Ottawa, November 2002) 197

25 The However Paragraph (Guest lecture, The Toronto Congress of the Canadian Association of Physicists, Toronto, 2010) 208

26 Reflections on Public Health and Peace: Ask How Are You? NOT Who Are You? (The Dr Zofia Pakula 2012 Inaugural Lecture, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Global Health Division, University of Toronto, November 2012) 213

Interview

27 An Interview with Anna Maria Tremonti (The Current, CBC Radio, May 2010) 221

Afterthoughts Ursula Martins Franklin and Sarah Jane Freeman 228

Appendix: Speeches Clustered by Theme 239

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

"Ursula Franklin is one of Canada's most accomplished scientists, thinkers and activists. This collection brings together speeches and interview from 1986 to 2012, many being made available in print for the very first time. A fascinating exploration of science, technology and society and how their complex relationship -- and Ursula's perspective on them -- has evolved over time." CBC Books

From the Publisher