Features

The Ethics Bowl comes to U of G on Feb 10!

Sponsored by the College of Arts, and organized by the Philosophy Department, the Ethics Bowl is somewhat like debate club. But typical debate encourages bias and teaches students that defending their tribe’s view is more important than the truth. The Ethics Bowl takes a different approach. The Ethics Bowl emphasizes impartial truth-seeking and promotes collaboration and empathy in the resolution of ethical dilemmas. Students learn to work together. They learn to hear alternative viewpoints. They learn to considerately respond to opposing perspectives. And while the Ethics Bowl is a serious competition, the victors are not those who yell the loudest. Eleven teams from Local high schools will be competing for a spot in the Provincial finals in the spring at the University of Toronto, Mississauga.

Recent evidence shows that participation in the Ethics Bowl increases high school students’ reflectiveness, intellectual humility, recognition of epistemic limitations, and decreases affective polarization. 

We’ve had a fabulous first year with Canisia Lubrin at the helm of the MFA program and Catherine Bush continues to supervise MFA students and teach fiction for us and the many writers clamoring into the new Creative Writing undergraduate program at the University of Guelph.