By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Youngstown State University’s Ethics Bowl Team A won third place and gained a bid for the National ethics bowl Competition at the Central States ethics bowl Competition, held at Marian University in Indianapolis on Nov. 22.
Ethics bowl is a competitive event where teams of students debate real-world ethical issues. Alan Tomhave, YSU ethics bowl coach, said case issues are sent out by organizers in advance for students to practice.
“Organizers release a set of 15 cases about two months before the competition, [and] you do some research on those,” Tomhave said. “The cases are designed to allow for reasonable disagreement on ethical issues where you might have a conflict of values.”
Tomhave said specific ethical questions the team will face at the competition remains unknown until the day of the event. When the issue is revealed, teams have a limited time to put together an argument.
“When they actually sit down for the competition, they have to answer a question that is revealed at the competition. They don’t know what the question is ahead of time,” Tomhave said. “They have about two minutes to huddle up as a team, figure out what their position is and then, they have 10 minutes to respond.”
Tomhave said the ethical issue can cover a variety of topics, such as concerns with technology, politics or business.
“It could be legal issues, some political issues, technology or [artificial intelligence] issues,” Tomhave said. “There’s recently been a case on your car automatically calling emergency services if you were in an accident … so, that’s a good example of showing the contrast of values between privacy and safety.”
Judges at the competitions do not judge teams based on the position they take, but on how well they defend their position.
“The judges are really good,” Tomhave said. “They might disagree with the position that a particular team takes, but it’s really about how clear you are [and] your ability to look at the other side of a particular argument.”
Despite being based in Beeghly College of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences and Education, Tomhave said ethics bowl is open to any YSU student interested in participating — regardless of major.
The ethics bowl season starts in September. Any students interested in joining can email Tomhave at aetomhave@ysu.edu, or his colleague Mark Vopat, philosophy professor, at mvopat@ysu.edu.
