Ethics Bowl Team

In 2017, the Philosophy and Religion Department launched an Ethics Bowl program. Ethics Bowl is a collegiate debate competition where teams of between 4-6 students present arguments on specific cases based on normative ethical frameworks and detailed empirical information.

In the months leading up to a competition, participating teams receive a packet of ethically complex and controversial cases that will be the subjects of debates. The most challenging aspect of Ethics Bowl is that teams must be prepared to argue both sides of a topic or case, since the cases are chosen randomly during each round of competition, and teams choose the position they defend based on the flip of a coin.

To support the Ethics Bowl Program, the Philosophy and Religion Department has created a course titled Debating Ethical Issues that is a contemporary moral issues course based on Ethics Bowl cases.

For more information about the program, please contact Prof. Benjamin Yelle at b.yelle@northeastern.edu

To read recent reflections on competitions, visit our Philosophy and Department webpage.