For collegiate Ethics Bowl teams anywhere in the world, consider the Ethics Olympiad with our friends Down Under this fall. If you’re unfamiliar, “Olympiad” in this case is the same as Bowl. And “tertiary” just means college/university-level.
Hosted via Zoom and sponsored in part by the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics, registration is $50 Australian per member or $250 Australian per team (with current exchange rates, that’s $31 or $157 U.S. dollars).
Organizer Matthew Wills always puts on a fun show, and and nobody coordinates ethics-events across time zones like him. And speaking of time zones, it looks like things will kick off at 8 a.m. Hong Kong time on Thursday, October 9th and wrap up just after noon, but that should be 8 p.m. Wednesday, October 8th until just after midnight EST, or 5 p.m. through 9:30 for U.S. teams on Pacific time.
For details on the case pool and rules or to register, email Matthew at EthicsOlympiad (at) gmail.com or visit the official registration site here.
Organizer extraordinaire, Jeanine DeLay, recently shared news of yet another successful Michigan High School Ethics Bowl, hosted by A2Ethics and the University of Michigan Philosophy Department. Here’s an abridged report from Jeanine, followed by celebratory pictures.
[MHSEB #12 was] a philosofest of energy, thoughtfulness and ardent discussion with 22 teams from 14 schools, including 2 new schools: Hamtramck HS (Cosmic Conscience) and Detroit Country Day School (“Kant Even” and “Golden Rulers”). Among other memorable team names: Washtenaw International High School’s “We Mill Locke You”; “The Golden Mean Machines” from the Academy of the Sacred Heart; Ann Arbor Skyline’s “Plato’s Cavemen.”
We had a Red Carpet entrance for each team accompanied by their team songs. Since this was the “Year of the Volunteers,” we took several photos of judges, philosopher coaches from A2Ethics’ 12 years strong campus community partnership with University of Michigan Philosophy, teacher advisor/coaches and volunteers.
The special word of the year was definitely…honor. We were honored to have seven former Michigan Bowlers serve as moderators in 2025. And we were also thrilled to debut our not-for-real and just-for-fun moderator fashion collection to honor their contributions. We were honored to host nine first-time judges – all undergraduate philosophy students and their resourceful professors (Julia Smith and Griffin Klemick) from Hope College. The gift to Bowlers were honor cords to be worn at their graduation and academic honors ceremonies held at their schools. The colors were Maize and Blue for the University of Michigan and “Honolulu Blue” which is A2Ethics’ color…and the Detroit Lions’ color too. 🙂 Indeed, another year, another honor.
2025 UM graduate student Bowl coordinators: AG McGee, Kiara Gilbert and Lindy OrtizFrom every Ethics Bowler’s favorite illustrator, the talented Dusty UptonThe Hope College 2025 Bowl judges (photo credit Melanie Reyes)Credit illustrator Dusty UptonProfessor Jim Spence, Philosophy and Religion, Adrian College, judge for all 12 Michigan BowlsMC and Hallmark Event Planner, Jeanine DeLay (photo credit Melanie Reyes)
Congrats, Michiganders! Leading the way with style and fun, per usual. And thanks so much for my own MHSEB honor cord! Proudly displayed in my home office – much appreciation and admiration from EthicsBowl.org headquarters in Tennessee :-)
If your regional Bowl is over and your team didn’t advance, that’s no reason to disband. Thanks to Coach Michael Andersen, you can easily pivot into Ethics Club mode with this ready-made discussion guide. It’s even tied back to a couple of old Ethics Bowl cases. And if you’d appreciate more off-season resources like this, post a comment or shoot me an email at matt (at) mattdeaton.com! Perhaps we can accommodate.
Reason & Rationality program coordinator, dean of academics and co-founder, Peter Bach-y-Rita, recently reached out to share a selective summer program pitched as “Critical Thinking through Convivial Conversation.” I had to look it up, but convivial means friendly, lively, and enjoyable. Sounds like a great way for Ethics Bowlers to spend a few weeks this summer, right? Here’s a blurb from Peter:
“Reason & Rationality Summer Program at Princeton and Swarthmore empowers high school students to think rigorously about complex questions, distinguish factual belief from ideology, and engage in civil, convivial exchange. The two-week summer immersive program is led by instructors from Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and other top universities, with an intimate 1:5 instructor to student ratio. Students boost their critical thinking ability as they discuss and debate 20 Big Ideas in philosophy, politics and economics in a setting that is simultaneously rigorous and joyful.”
It’s pricey, but partial scholarships are available. To learn more, check out the intro video and visit www.reasonandrationality.com.
Here’s a message from Archie Stapleton, co-founder of the Modus Ponens Institute and organizer of the TKEthics Olympiad, congratulating recent winners and announcing several cool spring events. Congrats to all who participated and kudos to MPI for growing in these exciting new directions!
Dear Ethletes and coaches from the TKEthics 2024 Fall Olympiad,
We want to start by congratulating all of you for participating in an incredible day of ethical discussion! We have heard really positive feedback from judges and spectators about the quality of your argumentation and engagement. You all demonstrated real commitment to ethical discourse, and tackled the problems of AI and technology in an incredibly nuanced and mature way. You can all be extremely proud.
Here are the results:
In the Open Division: The Gold Medal is awarded to Pythagoras (Eric Zhang, Michael Xu, Ethni Cajigas, Chase Chong, Stephanie Lee), The Silver Medal is awarded to Diogenes (Middle School team),(Eleanor Kleman, Mia Santos, Dahlia Rodgers, Reya Krishnan, Emilia Henry), The BronzeMedal is awarded to Parfit, (Qinrong (Anny) Qian, Anthony Gong, Eirena Wen, Zhiyuan (Jerry) Jiang). Following closely behind in fourth place was: Hobbes (Chengyin Du, Jingxuan (Jenelle) Zhang, Mutong Zhong, Huahui Chen), and in fifth was Locke (middle school team) (Ruilin Liang, James Loke, Darren Han, Haoxian (Ethan) Wang).
In the Middle School Division, excluding Diogenes who attained Silver in the open category: Gold Medal is awarded to Locke (Ruilin, James, Darren, Ethan), The Silver Medal is awarded to Socrates (Isaac Zhang, Nina He, Jeason Zhou, Steven Wu, Eason Wei), The Bronze Medalis awarded to Leibniz (Moxi Zhu, Laura Zhang, William Tao). Following closely behind in fourthplace was Hume (Jeffery Lian, Zachary J Liu, Kingston Wang, Mia Zhang, Vicky Fei).
Top International Team team: Aristotle (Olivia Yu, Yishan Gao (Noelle), Winston Ge).
Finally, we allow judges to submit an “honorable mention” for any team they were particularly impressed by in any given round! These teams received Honorable Mentions throughout the day: Plato (“Xing (Elsa) Gao, Ziyue (Abby) Zhou, Liqian (Eric) Yan, James Chen), Hegel (Derek Hu, Austin Lu, Liam Kim), Hobbes (listed above), Parfit (listed above) and Russel (Angela Yang, Jordan He, Alpha Dong, Angel Shaji, Mushel Khan).
Congratulations to all teams! Certificates will be sent out to each team within the next week.
We are also excited to announce that we will host an in person conference on the West Coast of the US for any team mentioned in the above announcements in August 2025, stay tuned!
If you missed out this time, don’t fret! Another opportunity is around the corner:
Our next tournament is the spring TKEthics Olympiad on Sunday, March 1st, and is now open for registration! This will also allow you to qualify for our in person conference.
After that is the Pan American Ethics Olympiad! This is the program with an Eastern Round on Saturday, April 26th at 9am EST, a Western Round on Saturday, May 3rd at 9am PST, and the
Pan Am Final on Saturday, May 17th, 2025 also at 9am PST. Register here. The winners of this event will be eligible for the International Ethics Olympiad Final held in July (10am East Coast Australia time), with hundreds of teams from all over the world.
Kind regards,
The MPI and TKEthics Olympiad Organizing Committee
Here’s another superb NHSEB case study guide from our friend Coach Michael Andersen, followed by a lecture video by Yours Truly on a related philosophical article that I use in my Ethics Intro classes.
Together, your team should be in a great position to rock this one. Enjoy!
Here’s a really nice study guide from Coach Michael Andersen with two superb generative AI experiments on the case, as well as a bonus guide on evaluating sources on controversial topics.
Mr. A is going above and beyond per usual! And I think the generative AI engagement stuff is especially cool. Give his strategies a try with other cases and let us know what’s working, what isn’t, etc.
As has been tradition, here’s the first of several superb 2024-2025 NHSEB study guides to come from the always generous supercoach Michael Andersen in Washington state. Thank you, Michael, and happy studying to all!
We’re behind schedule on a new NHSEB case pool analysis or two. But first, friend Archie Stapleton, co-founder and director of the Modus Ponens Institute, recently shared the below call for qualified judges and student competitors for the upcoming 2024 Global Ethics Olympiad. Open to all students anywhere in the world grades 6-12, check it out and email panamethics@modusponensinstitute.com with questions.
We are excited to invite you to the Fall TKEthics Global Olympiad on November 30, 2024, hosted by the Modus Ponens Institute. This virtual event, running from 6 PM to 11:30 PM EST, brings together students from grades 6-12 to discuss real-world ethical challenges.
This year’s Olympiad features 8 cases, with half focusing on the ethical implications of technology and artificial intelligence. These timely topics will challenge students to explore pressing questions on the role of AI in society—from privacy concerns to the future of AI-human relationships. The Olympiad provides a platform for students to showcase their ethical reasoning and public speaking skills, engaging in respectful, solution-driven discussions.
We Need Qualified Judges We are seeking qualified judgeswith a background in philosophy, ethics, or related fields to help evaluate the students’ performances. If you have experience in ethical discourse and would like to contribute, we encourage you to apply. Judges will play a key role in maintaining the high intellectual standard of the competition, helping to assess the students’ arguments and their ability to engage in thoughtful dialogue.
Coaching for Students Students looking to compete can also receive expert coaching from our renowned trainers, Archie Stapleton and Zach Bloom, who have coached the winners of the 2021, 2022, and 2024 International Ethics Olympiads. Our coaching sessions are designed to enhance critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and presentation skills, ensuring that students are fully prepared for the competition.
Upcoming Tournaments The Fall Ethics Olympiad will be followed by a Spring Tournament in March 2025. Details for the Finals are yet to be announced, but we are planning for a possible in-person event inCalifornia, with prizes for the winning teams!
Join Us! If you’re a qualified judge interested in participating or a student eager to compete, register now through the link below. For more details, you can also check out the attached invitation, or contact us directly at panamethics@modusponensinstitute.com.
Here’s a brief report from Ethics Olympiad Project Manager Matthew Wills on the International Senior Ethics Olympiad held July 24th.
What a wonderful day yesterday. Here is a sample of the feedback received from coaches: “Thank you for yet another superbly run Olympiad. The students have been intellectually stretched and learned to apply ethics in their lives. Personally, my favourite aspect is the focus on morality. In a world that is thirsting for authentic morality, the Ethics Olympiad is an oasis. Keep up the much-needed education!”
Here are the results: Marc Garneau Collegiate Canada was awarded the Gold Medal, Papanui High School New Zealand the Silver Medal and John XXIII College WA the Bronze Medal. Old Scona High School Canada, Merici College ACT, The Friends School Tasmania, The Kellett School Hong Kong, Iona Presentation College WA, St Margaret’s College NZ, St Peter’s School for Girls SA, Carmel School WA, Sydney Boys High School NSW, Newington College NSW, NPS International School Singapore (Black), Experimental High School China, Launceston College Tasmania, Tawa College NZ, Hornsby Girls High School NSW, Diocesan School for Girls NZ, Knox Grammar School NSW, Bishop Druitt College NSW, Prince Alfred College SA & Emanuel School NSW were close behind in that order. The most improved team on the day was Shiv Nadar School Gurugram India.
The judges awarded honourable mentions to the following teams: Ryan Catholic College Qld, Shiv Nadar School Gurugram India, The Essington School NT, Mentone Girls Grammar Vic, North Sydney Boys HS NSW, Old Scona High School Canada, The Kellett School Hong Kong, St Peter’s School for Girls SA, Carmel School WA, The Southport School Qld, Mt St Benedict College NSW, (Blue) Sydney Boys High School NSW, Newington College NSW, Uni of Canberra Senior College ACT, NPS International School Singapore (Black), Experimental High School China, Launceston College Tasmania, Shiv Nadar School Faridabad India, Loreto Normanhurst NSW, Tawa College NZ, Knox Grammar School NSW, Bishop Druitt College NSW, Selwyn College NZ, Cannon Hill Anglican College Qld, St Ignatius College SA, Heep Yunn School Hong Kong, Prince Alfred College SA, Emanuel School NSW St Michael’s Grammar Vic.
Congratulations to all 350 teams that participated in this year’s Senior High School Ethics Olympiad.
Congrats indeed! Thank you for organizing and for the update, Matthew. For more on Ethics Olympiad visit http://www.ethicsolympiad.org/
