Most debate tournaments focus on winning arguments, but in an ethics bowl, collaboration and consensus matter just as much as competition. The Haldane Debate Club competed in two ethics bowls recently, one at Sacred Heart Greenwich on January 31 and the other at Harvard University on March 28. Although they didn’t come home with a trophy, members said that the experiences challenged them to rethink what debate can look like.

Senior Henry Schimming said that the ethics bowl format was ver y different from traditional debate styles. He explained that ethics bowls “allowed for more creativity when exploring prompts, and allowed debaters to focus more on actually coming to a consensus and thinking critically about these ethical problems, rather than just ‘beating’ the other team.” Schimming said that one of the most thought-provoking question he got at the Harvard Ethics Bowl was “Can it ever make sense to say that a person has been harmed by being brought into existence, or is non-existence an incoherent standard for moral comparison?”

The debate team had limited time to prepare for the Harvard Ethics Bowl because they got off the waitlist for the event about a week before it. Schimming noted that the team “relied heavily on improvising”. However, he added that their “actual positions were the strongest part of our game.” Schimming added that their strength came from a deep understanding of ethical theory: “I think that we had an especially strong conceptual understanding of the philosophy behind our ethical positions.”

Although the preparation was short, it was focused and collaborative. “In the two days we had to prepare, our team met at the library and went over each question, debating them quickly among ourselves so that we could come to a consensus that was both defensible and that we had pondered enough to give ourselves some material to debate over,” Schimming said.

Freshman Allegra Clementson, who attended the ethics bowl at Sacred Heart, echoed Schimming’s sentiments.“I really liked being able to not only debate but also work to form a consensus and learn how to articulate my points in a more efficient way,” she said.

Looking ahead, she acknowledged that there is still room to grow. “I think that we still have a lot of growth to do as a team before we’re ready to win these competitions,” she said . “ The most impactful thing I learned was how important it is to have a solid plan going into the debate.”