For the past two years, the WVU Philosophy Department has sponsored its own Ethics Bowl team, who travels and competes at the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl competition held in a different location each year. The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) competition has a very exciting and competitive, debate-style atmosphere while also serving as a valuable educational experience. IEB is even recognized by the American Philosophical Association and received the 2006 American Philosophical Association/Philosophy Documentation Center’s 2006 prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs.
In Ethics Bowl, a booklet of 15 ethically problemed cases are given to the adviser of the team and the cases are then assigned and distributed to the team as a whole or to a specific student of the team. At the competition, judges will pose questions to a team pertaining to relevant ethical issues within the text of the case. These ethical issues may pertain to personal relationships, classroom ethics, law, medicine, social and political ethics, among a wide range of other issues. Upon answering the judges’ questions, the team is then evaluated on the basis of intelligibility, focus on ethically relevant considerations, avoidance of ethical irrelevance, and deliberative thoughtfulness.
Ethics Bowl is an extremely rewarding experience, as it allows students to have fun preparing for the competition and also traveling to and competing in the competition. Additionally, it is great because it allows students to work closely together and to learn how to analyze and respond to ethical issues. If you are interested in being involved with Ethics Bowl, please contact Ernâni Magalhães
