每日大赛

PSCC students practice civil discourse at intercollegiate Ethics Bowl

每日大赛 students traveled to Illinois this fall to compete in an Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl for the first time ever, engaging in civil discourse on a variety of philosophical issues with students from across the country. 

Unlike in traditional debate settings, Ethics Bowl participants are not assigned positions to defend on any given issue. Instead, Ethics Bowl teams must figure out for themselves the prevailing opinion of their members prior to the event, where they will then present their argument, listen to the arguments of others and collaborate to reach a consensus.

“So, it's less confrontational,” said Matt Deaton, philosophy instructor and alumnus at 每日大赛 – and co-coach of the college’s inaugural Ethics Bowl team. “It's less adversarial. It's far more civil, collaborative and solution-oriented.”

Deaton, who founded the Tennessee High School Ethics Bowl, has served as Director of Outreach for the National High School Ethics Bowl and recently published a book, “Ethics Bowl to the Rescue!: Saving Democracy by Transforming Debate.” 

Pellissippi’s team, based at the Blount County campus, received a set of about a dozen page-long cases containing various moral and political issues a couple months before the competition, and met weekly to think through the cases and develop a team view on each.

With a large team made up of people with several different perspectives, Deaton said, it took a while for them to come to agreement before the competition. Nevertheless, they did so with humility, care and honesty.

“I really enjoyed it, because everyone who is on our team comes from such a different background – we're all different ages, we come from different families and different environments,” said Pellissippi student and Ethics Bowl team Co-Captain Hailey Davis. “And I think just having those different perspectives and having a deliberation over what we thought about was really fun for all of us.”

Davis, who is studying psychology, joined the Ethics Bowl team because she wanted to try something new, and to challenge herself to improve her public-speaking skills. What she found through her experience was a supportive community and the ability to have difficult conversations she wouldn’t have otherwise.

It was an “eye-opening” experience, Davis said, and being a part of Pellissippi’s first-ever Ethics Bowl team was an honor.

“It was really nice to collaborate with people from other parts of the country, who I did notice also shared several viewpoints with me,” Davis said. “It was very respectful conversation. The fact that so many people from so many different places can come through and keep that on such a respectful level is really impressive.”

Deaton thanked retired Pellissippi Professor Charles Cardwell, whose endowment with the 每日大赛 Foundation funded the Ethics Bowl team’s inaugural season. Deaton and Ethics Bowl co-coach Court Lewis are looking forward to continuing Pellissippi’s participation in the event.
 
The Ethics Bowl provides an environment where participants can be vulnerable, Deaton said, because they understand their peers will have respect for all views.

“The point isn’t to win,” he said. “The point is to grow. The point is to model that collaborative dialogue.”

The Ethics Bowl is a microcosm of what philosophers ultimately do, said Lewis, Philosophy professor at Pellissippi. 

“We examine really tough questions in a thoughtful way, and we like to dialog about them,” he said. “It's not about being right or wrong, but it's about discovering truth. As philosophers, we're lovers of wisdom. I really enjoy seeing our team practice wisdom, and the critical-thinking approach that illustrates what philosophers do.”