Ethics Bowl (PHIL 560.001)

The Ethics Bowl provides students with a unique opportunity to practice applying the moral theories and argumentation principles that they learn in their ethics classes. The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) combines the excitement and fun of a competitive tournament with a valuable educational experience. We will receive 15 case studies with ethical issues in a number of practical contexts, including engineering, law, medicine, personal relationships, school and politics, both nationally and internationally. During the course the students will prepare these cases. Questions may concern ethical problems on wide ranging topics, such as the classroom (e.g. cheating or plagiarism), personal relationships (e.g. dating or friendship), professional ethics (e.g. engineering, law, medicine), or social and political ethics (e.g. free speech, gun control, etc.) or global issues (e.g. the impact of globalization, global warming, the environment). Preparing responses to these questions involves a great deal of research, writing, and oral presentation. We will have several mock Ethics Bowl competitions, and if the current participants qualify for the national competition during the Fall semester, we will prepare the team for that competition. In the event that the team does not qualify, we will likely focus on bioethical issues in preparation for the bioethics bowl.

Please note: Permission of the instructor is required for enrollment in this class.  

Recommended:  PHIL 165 and COMM 171 or a similar debate/public speaking course.  Focus will be on preparing for the Bioethics Bowl in March.

This course satisfies the PH, CI and E6 general education requirements.

Reid Blackman’s webpage