Congratulations to Jesuit High School and Metro Montessori for winning the 2024 Oregon High School and Middle School Ethics Bowls!
PSU Philosophy has recorded the following videos on ethical theory to help students think about the cases for the competition:
Alex Sager: Ethical Theory and Ethics Bowl
Brad Berman: Ethics Bowl and Virtue Ethics
Maurice Hamington: Ethics Bowl and Care Ethics
Monica Mueller: Deontology for Ethics Bowl
Avram Hiller: Consequentialism for Ethics Bowl
Check out this video about the benefits of participating, featuring organizers and former high school participants of the OHSEB.
Feedback from OHSEB Judges
The Oregon High School Ethics Bowl judges come from all walks of life and are absolutely critical to the success of the event. They tend to be very expressive on the day of the event about just how enjoyable it is to see the students in action. Here are some of the comments we’ve received about the 2020 OHSEB:
“The event was totally awesome, and I was so happy to be part of it! Thanks again for inviting me to participate. I know this sounds cheesy, but the Ethics Bowl always fills me with a lot of joy, trust in humanity, and hope for the future!”
Ramona Ilea, Pacific University
“I remain in awe of the incredible work you do organizing this event, and joyous at seeing young people think carefully and discuss respectfully. Thanks for all the effort making it work!!!”
Shirlee Geiger, Portland Community College
“Randy Spencer has told me that judging Ethics Bowl would help restore one’s faith in the future. And so it did. So thank you. I hope to be back next year.”
Bennett Gilbert, PSU
“Thank you! I thought the event went fantastically – I’ll definitely be there for next year and I’ll continue to seek out judges. Also, I thought that the addition of middle schoolers was absolutely wonderful. Thank you (or whoever did the scheduling) for scheduling me with one of those rounds – it was a highlight of my weekend watching them work out the issues and engage so thoughtfully.”
Priscilla Rader, Animal Legal Defense Fund
“Thank you! I had the best time judging and would love to help out again next year. I was enormously impressed.”
Claire Michie, Reed College
“I thoroughly enjoyed participating in this year’s Ethics Bowl. It was such a pleasure to listen to those young philosophers. Thank you for allowing me to be a judge. I would love to be a judge again next year. I so enjoyed listening to the students, especially the middle school teams. Thanks for hosting and encouraging our new crop of thinkers!
Cindy Brown, Author
The Oregon High School Ethics Bowl promotes ethical awareness and the skills needed for a thoughtful, democratic citizenry. High School students from all over Oregon can participate in this year’s event, developing well-informed and persuasive positions on live ethical issues that could change the way we live together. Every team that participates adds to the great conversation of our society.
The National and Regional High School Ethics Bowls are competitive yet collaborative events in which students discuss real-life ethical issues. In each round of competition, teams take turns analyzing cases about complex ethical dilemmas and responding to questions and comments from the other team and from a panel of judges. An ethics bowl differs from a debate competition in that students are not assigned opposing views; rather, they defend whichever position they think is correct, provide each other with constructive criticism, and win by demonstrating that they have thought rigorously and systematically about the cases and engaged respectfully and supportively with all participants. Data from NHSEB surveys shows that this event teaches and promotes ethical awareness, critical thinking, civil discourse, civic engagement, and an appreciation for multiple points of view. (from the National High School Ethics Bowl website)
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Oregon Ethics Bowl 