Philosophy Department Hosts The Ethics Cup!

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Students from The Manchester Grammar School

Should we celebrate the work of disgraced artists? Should women change their name after marriage? Should we continue to buy pets that have been selected to have genetic features that are damaging to the health of those pets? These were just some of the important social and ethical questions which were discussed during the North-West regional tournament of The Ethics Cup.

However, this was no ordinary debating competition! Teams were rewarded, not just for their argument, but for expressing their views with insightfulness, thoughtfulness and civility. For more on the unique approach of The Ethics Cup see: https://ethicscup.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

The event was hosted by the Philosophy Department on the 10th January, and our guests were students from eight secondary schools in the region, who competed by debating a wide-range of ethical and social issues.

All the students did incredibly well. The time-keepers and judges were academic staff, Masters or PhD candidates from the philosophy department, and they were all really impressed with how the students conducted the debates, and with their careful consideration of the issues.

We enjoyed an exciting morning involving all eight schools playing two matches each, as well as listening to a taster lecture on rhetoric with Dr Daniel Hill from the philosophy department! The top four schools took part in the regional finals in the afternoon. After two close matches, the students from Didsbury High School and The Manchester Grammar School were victorious! They are our joint winners and have secured places at the finals to be held at The University of St Andrews, where they will play the winners from the other regional tournaments. As a token of their achievement, both teams were given a copy of Dr Rachael Wiseman’s new book: Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life.

Thanks so much to the students and teachers from Carmel College, Didsbury High School, The Hammond School, Liverpool College, The Manchester Grammar School, Neston High School, The Orme Academy and Tytherington School. You were all fantastic!

Thanks to the students from The Manchester Grammar School for sharing this picture of them celebrating their success!