The Ethics of Humor – Bonus Offseason Agenda
2025 International Collegiate Ethics Olympiad Registration Open
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.
Honoring Another Successful Michigan HSEB
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.
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 :-)
The Ethics of Online Friendships – Bonus Offseason Agenda
Continuing the Conversation: a Post-Bowl Discussion Topic and Guide
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 Summer Program
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.