The UCF Ethics Bowl team is heading to the national Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl for a second year in a row, after placing second at the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Regional Ethics Bowl at the University of North Georgia. Joining UCF in qualifying for the national competition are Samford University and Clemson University, who placed first and third respectively, out of the 18 teams who competed in the regional ethics bowl on November 17.
UCF went 3-1 in the initial four rounds, and they earned their national berth after defeating the University of North Carolina in the semi-final round, but they then fell to Samford in a very close championship round. Throughout the event, the UCF Ethics Bowl team argued for positions on 12 challenging ethics bowl cases, responding to moral questions such as: “Is there any ethically significant difference between being transracial and transgender?” “What are the ethical obligations of rich countries to poor countries?” and “Under what conditions can thought experiments ethically be used to program artificial intelligence?”
The UCF Ethics Bowl team consists of Natalie Hintz (sophomore, mechanical engineering), Derwin Sanchez (freshman, philosophy/writing & rhetoric), Matthew Shalna (junior, philosophy/political science), and Madison Stemples (junior, philosophy). The team is coached by Dr. Michael Strawser (Philosophy) and Dr. Madi Dogariu (Burnett Honors College). The 23rd Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competition will be held in Baltimore, Maryland on March 2-3, 2019.
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