Santa Sabina College Philosophy and Religious Education Teacher Andrew Costantino recently delivered an excellent Ethics Olympiad (Australia’s Ethics Bowl) case analysis presentation. The primary case: Is It OK to Punch a Nazi? The primary metaphor: baking and eating cookies!
cookie ingredients (chocolate chips, an egg, brown sugar, etc.) = case presumptions and facts
the recipe (mix, bake at 350 degrees for 12 mins) = construction of the argument
the eating experience (bland, burnt or perfecto) = the argument’s consequences and implications
Could there be a more delicious way to explain argument construction and analysis? Brilliant!
Costantino also considers and explains subject-centered approaches to ethics, providing substantial analysis from the perspective of Virtue Ethics, action-centered approaches, including Deontological Ethics such as Kantianism, and consequence-based theories, including Utilitarianism.
He does a nice job dividing Kant’s Categorical Imperative into the Humanity Principle and Universality Principle – much better labels than The First and Second Formulations (which I’m guilty of using). And is careful to explain how Utilitarianism should take into account long-term consequences (as suggested by Rule Utilitarianism), and can morph into preference-satisfaction Utilitarianism, as promoted by world-famous Australian moral philosopher, Peter Singer.
Whether you’re a coach, competitor, judge or fan, the vid’s almost certainly worth your time. Thanks to Andrew for putting it together, and thanks to Matthew Wills with Ethics Olympiad for recording and sharing it with the EthicsBowl.org community.
This past Tuesday evening, having grown bored of Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems (Waterboy is more my style), I decided to call it a night around 11:30. Checking my email one last time, I saw a message from Ethics Olympiad director Matthew Wills from 9:55: “The Olympiad is beginning…”
I was confused. I’d been honored to be invited to serve as a judge for the online event. But it was scheduled for the following evening – Wednesday, May 27th at 10 p.m. Tennessee time, which would be 11 a.m. in Perth. My error became apparent when I realized that while it was still Tuesday, May 26th in Tennessee, it was in fact already Wednesday, May 27th in Australia…
I sent a quick apology, and wrestled with whether to hide or log on. My better side won the debate and I quickly joined the Zoom meeting (not taking time to change out of my blue jammies) to see if there was anything I might be able to do, and if nothing else, to apologize via video.
Matthew was all smiles and graciousness, per usual – not the nervous wreck that organizers sometimes devolve into, especially when their judges flake out…
Smartly, he’d pre-recruited a backup, just in case, and everything was progressing as planned. He asked if I’d like to sit in on one of the heats in a Zoom break-out room.
Surreal seeing the sun shining when it’s near midnight(!). Yay, technology.
It was for a match between Santa Sabina College and St. Peters Girls Academy. The teams were together at their respective schools, judges Rosalind Walsh and Jennifer Duke-Wonge appeared to be in their offices, and so too was moderator Theo Stapleton.
Considering the NHSEB case, “Is it OK to Punch a Nazi?” the teams were both well-prepared, and quick on their feet. They were respectful and engaged, and did a nice job sharing the floor, taking turns to elaborate on and clarify their arguments. The judges asked excellent questions (homing in on key aspects of the teams’ positions, but doing so in a friendly way), and Theo did an expert job keeping everyone on track – a wonderful balance of professionalism and warmth.
Zoom proved a superb platform. The video quality was great, and as far as I could tell, hardly glitched at all. My own connection was via a smartphone hotspot, which I worried might not be able to keep up. But it did without issue, and so did everyone else’s – a mini miracle I’m still impressed to witness.
The result of the event, which featured 8 teams from 8 different schools, was that St Peters Girls Adelaide, Santa Sabina College Sydney and The Kings School Sydney advanced to participate in the China Australia Ethics Olympiad on June 25th. Congrats to all three, and to the other teams who were all very close in the final scores.
Kudos to Matthew for doing such a nice job with the event. The participants appeared to enjoy themselves and grow from the experience. And this COVID-driven transition to online Ethics Olympiads (and Bowls) will no doubt continue to expand opportunities for international collaboration. There’s something reassuring about seeing teams on the other side of the globe (made apparent by the fact that it’s midnight where I am, yet I can see sunlight out the classroom window behind a team) think through cases addressed next door. There’s also something special about how Australians can say “cheers” with such authenticity…
And if you yourself are invited to participate in an international Ethics Olympiad, pay special attention to not only the local time, but the date. Don’t get sucked into bad movies on Netflix. And maybe be on standby the day before and after with a polo and sports jacket, just in case.
Our Ethics Olympiad friends in Australia are proving fast to respond to the COVID crisis, both in sustaining ethics bowl in the online environment, and in tackling virus-related ethical issues sooner rather than later.
Screen shot from the recent China/Australia Ethics Olympiad “friendly”
If you’re unfamiliar, Ethics Olympiad is very much like Ethics Bowl, and in fact often leverages U.S. ethics bowl cases. Founder Matthew Wills and team have been in the ethics bowl game for several years now. In fact, he soldiered through a very long flight to attend the very first National High School Ethics Bowl at UNC, and he and I co-hosted a virtual bowl around 2011 with teams from Tennessee, California, and Perth (Australia).
In an email update sent earlier this week, Matthew shared the results of a recent China/Australia online high school Ethics Olympiad friendly, upcoming ethics teaching and bowl coaching professional development online sessions scheduled for May, an invite to the Middle School Ethics Olympiad scheduled for November, as well as some COVID-19 ethical questions including “How should governments weigh violations of individual liberties against protecting the health and well-being of others during a health crisis?” – a tough one for sure, and something I’m certain our teams will have superb insights on. Feel free and encouraged to share yours in a comment below. P.S. Thank you for not killing Tom Hanks.
Participation in Ethics Olympiad, which requires registration, is open to schools everywhere. In addition to bonus teaching resources, members enjoy the ability to remotely compete with teams from North Carolina to Western Australia, New Zealand to the UK, Tasmania to Texas. School membership is $180 the first year, then $80 annually thereafter – click here or reach out to admin@ethicsolympiad.org for more information, and kudos to our friends down under for continuing to fight the good fight during this difficult time.
