Philosothon
Philosothon – what is it? It’s an inter-school philosophical debating competition and we out-thought them all (sort of).
This year we had the exciting opportunity to visit Exeter College to represent Wells Cathedral School in the inter-school Philosothon. Before the event each team was given four philosophical stimuli and used them for ideas to debate. Upon arriving it became apparent that we were severely underprepared as the other teams had pages of pre-written notes, we just had our innate skills and intelligence but no paper.
The first debate was “If an animal genuinely wants to be eaten, does that make it morally acceptable to eat it? Why or why not?”
We gathered in groups and debated the topics, throwing around and building on ideas.This lasted for around twenty minutes. It was thoroughly engaging as there were so many different perspectives on the stimulus which made for entertaining clashes of opinions. In the end we were scored on how much we added to the debate. Wells came third over all (I won’t mention how many participated). I’d love to go again next year when we win! Congratulations also to Elisia B who won joint first prize for best Sixth Form philosopher.
