Students passionately debated modern-day problems in the national Ethics Bowl competition on Feb. 22-23.

Competing in this competition was the UCA Ethics Bowl team, comprised of six students who worked together to tackle selections from 17 modern ethical cases using various philosophies and theories. Their venture to Virginia for nationals came after the team’s success at regionals.

Professor Benjamin Rider, the team’s head coach, said, “We again won all of our matches, and the two teams finished first and third. It is an amazing run of success.”

The purpose of Ethics Bowl itself is to collaboratively think about how to approach modern ethical problems. Students use all kinds of theories, from Aristotelian philosophy to Muscogee Harmony Ethics.

Senior Alec Brewer said, “Ethics Bowl is a competition whereby students from universities get into teams and are given ethical cases to then argue.”

Whether in regionals or nationals, the team is given a list of cases in advance, which they then study and prepare to present; at the event, a random select few of these cases are actually assigned.

Brewer said, “We want to know the background of each case, we want to learn what value theory is going to be most appropriate, and when we find a position, we practice.”

While it is presented as a competition, Ethics Bowl is a more collaborative event, where teams discuss real-world problems using real theories with real counters from other teams that then need to be addressed.

This collaborative nature shines through in the teams themselves, who work together to cover each other’s weaknesses — not every student memorizes every case, but the team divides the list amongst the members, leaving each to their specialty.

Senior Samuel O’Connor said, “I always like cases related to environmental issues, so I would say a topic related to that is best.”

Senior Keenan Smith said, “I feel really great about the barred owl case because we have some pretty non-negotiable data to support our stance.”

Though its ethical focus may lead some to believe that Ethics Bowl is a rigid, serious practice, the teams make it as enjoyable as possible, both for themselves and each other. For example, in the regionals, the two team names were “Bearistotle” and “Kant Touch This.”

Brewer said, “After Gaige Figueroa’s very first case he did a ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ meme and said ‘Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am the ethical one.’”

This year’s team, with its run of success continuing from last year, had a strong synergy. 

Rider said, “It is always a challenging balancing act to take a deep and complex stance on an issue, but to explain it clearly and compellingly, and we’ve been very good at that.”

Smith said, “I’m mostly hoping for just better than last year and to hold our own against the really good teams.”

On the first day of nationals, the team won both of their matches. However, on the second day, they narrowly lost their third and fourth matches, which left them out of the running for playoffs. After points were tallied, UCA’s team placed 18th out of 36 teams.

Brewer said, “I would spotlight everyone if I could, honestly the team itself.”

Rider said, “All of our recent teams have had wonderful chemistry, and that’s helped them to support each other and go into competitions with confidence.”

Although its success is owed to the students on the team, some of these students are in their final years at UCA, and thus won’t return for another shot at nationals. The Ethics Bowl team is looking for new members to get heated over philosophy with, potentially to the point of national recognition.