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Department of Philosophy / BC Ethics Bowl

BC Lower Mainland Ethics Bowl

BC regional winners Sands Secondary take on Princess Margaret in the semi-finals.

2023-2024 Ethics Bowl Season

The 2023-2024 Ethics Bowl season is open! This year brings back the BC Regional Ethics Bowl in February 2024, and a friendly Ethics Bowl on professional and scientific ethics at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in November 2023.
For more information about the BC Lower Mainland Ethics Bowl activities, head to our new site at 

Ethics in the Professions and the Sciences: November 25, 2023

We teamed up with the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue to bring you an exciting Ethics Bowl opportunity! Join us on Saturday, November 25, 2023 for a friendly Ethics Bowl competition, focused on ethical issues in business, law, urban planning, and genomics!

There are limited spots available at this event, so register now! The registration fee is $300 for a team (including lunch) and fee waivers are available for those who need financial assistance. Please contact Cem Erkli (sfubowl@sfu.ca) to register or obtain more information.

6th BC Regional Ethics Bowl: February 24, 2024

This year's bowl will one take place at 大象传媒's Burnaby Campus, on Saturday, February 24, 2024. The winning team will proceed to the National Ethics Bowl competition at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The registration fee for the BC Ethics Bowl is $300 per team (including lunch). Fee waivers are available for those who need financial assistance.

  • The 2022-2023 Ethics Bowl Canada Regional Cases are now out! 

To get involved or to obtain more information, please contact Cem Erkli (sfubowl@sfu.ca). You can 

Volunteer with us!

The BC Lower Mainland Regional Ethics Bowl relies on volunteer judges and moderators to deliver this transformative experience for students. Judging or moderating at one of our events is a wonderful way to share your expertise and gain facilitation skills!
If you are interested in volunteering, you can fill out . If you are interested in learning more, email Cem at sfubowl@sfu.ca

Details and information

We have prepared a . It will introduce you to the guiding principles behind the Ethics Bowl, how it is organized, and how the competitions are scored. It is just an outline of what you'll need to know, but it's a good starting point.

Most of the information relevant to the BC Ethics Bowl will be found on the website of the national organization, the . The following resources will be particularly relevant:

  • The  on the EBC website.
  • The are also useful  on the website of the US Ethics Bowl.

Despite all the verbal descriptions available in the above documents, there's nothing quite like seeing the Ethics Bowl in action to understand how it works. To get a good feel for it, check out the following videos:

  • A short  introducing the US High School Ethics Bowl

Results of previous BC Regional Ethics Bowls

We have been organizing the Regional Ethics Bowl since 2017! Check out the past event reports here:

Why participate in an Ethics Bowl?

The Ethics Bowl is particularly well-suited to the development of the core competencies emphasized in the new BC curriculum. For more more details, see the short article "" by Nic Fillion. We have also prepared a poster describing the way in which the Ethics Bowl fosters the development of the core competencies as they are articulated in the new curriculum. Check it out!

  • Article: 
  • Poster: 

Here are additional resources describing the advantages of participating in an Ethics Bowl:

  •  in the New York Times.

Resource for regional organizers

As we are seeking to bring the Ethics Bowl to many more communities, we have prepared a short . If you are a teacher organizing a team for your school, you don't need this information. The information in the previous section will be more relevant.

The BC Ethics Bowl

An Ethics Bowl is both a collaborative and competitive team event, in which grade 9-12 students study, imagine, criticize, and compare stances and argumentative strategies, within an educationally-enhanced debate structure. The aim of the activity is that participating students develop and demonstrate their ability to critically engage with each other about current ethical issues鈥攕ocial, political, economic, scientific, cultural, and beyond. As opposed to traditional debate structures, in which reactionary opposition to each other and rhetorical flurries are often rewarded, the Ethics Bowl rewards constructive attitudes, including critical listening and the ability to envision other points of views. Instead of being rewarded for digging their heels in as the argumentation progresses, debaters may amend their initial positions when faced with convincing arguments. Students have opportunities to pose and respond to probing questions from judges with expertise in critical and ethical reasoning, resulting in a deepening awareness of the stakes and principles that animate the discussion.

La Coupe 脡thique de la C.-B.

La Coupe 脡thique est un 茅v茅nement par 茅quipe qui est 脿 la fois collaboratif et comp茅titif, au sein duquel des 茅tudiants de 9-12i猫me ann茅e 茅tudient, imaginent, critiquent, et comparent des hypoth猫ses et strat茅gie argumentatives, dans le cadre d鈥檜n d茅bat structur茅 脿 des fins 茅ducatives. Le but est que les 茅tudiants d茅veloppent et d茅montrent leur aptitude 脿 interagir en discutant des enjeux 茅thiques actuels, qu鈥檌ls soient 脿 port茅e sociale, politique, scientifique, culturelle, etc. Alors que les d茅bats traditionnels r茅compensent souvent l鈥檕pposition r茅actionnaire et les envols rh茅toriques, la Coupe 脡thique r茅compense les attitudes constructives, telle que l鈥櫭ヽoute critique et la capacit茅 脿 voir les choses d鈥檃utres points de vue. Au lieu d鈥櫭猼re encourag茅 l鈥檈nt锚tement 脿 d茅fendre une th猫se, les d茅batteurs peuvent amender leur position lorsqu鈥檜n argument convaincant est pr茅sent茅. Les 茅tudiants ont aussi l鈥檕pportunit茅 de poser des questions et de r茅pondre 脿 celles de juges ayant une expertise en raisonnement critique et 茅thique, le tout menant 脿 une compr茅hension approfondie des enjeux et principes animant la discussion.

 

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