Well done to the 10 Lower Sixth RS students who recently went to Caterham School to compete in the Ethics Cup regional tournament. This is only the second year we have entered a team, and last year, not only made it to the national final, but won the whole competition!
The Ethics Cup is organised by the Philosophy Department of St Andrew’s University to ‘promote interest in Philosophy among secondary school students and civil discourse on issues of public concern’.
One of the team, Benedict Long, reports back from the recent event:
“It was a fantastic day, in which we dove straight into things with our first debate beginning the moment we arrived. Although not strictly a debating competition, the Ethics Cup encourages discourse on all things moral and ethical (or not!), with the aim being to have a ‘civilised debate’ – the opposite to what is sometimes seen in the House of Commons!
“We had two matches in our group stage, with Team 1 battling it out with Reeds School on a range of topics from the morality of institutional statements deemed simply performative, to the ethics of using genetic engineering to create ‘saviour siblings’. It was a hard-fought match, but unfortunately Reeds narrowly pipped us to the win. Nevertheless, the audience took their seats again as Trinity Team 2 got underway to face Reading School.
“It was a fantastic match, once again well fought and very evenly matched, however our preparation on the topics of the ethics of ‘thrift flipping’ and abuse of virtual players in computer games paid off greatly, as the judges awarded us the win.
“Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite enough to take us to the next round, however, it is safe to say everyone took home some valuable skills in debating. I, for one, really appreciated the opportunity to practice my public speaking, especially in a subject I have less experience in.
“Many thanks to Mrs Beresford-Miller for helping us to prepare and running the trip and to Miss Gerlach for supporting us on the day.”
Well done to all involved for their efforts.
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With thanks to Caterham School for the photographs.
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