• Welcome to SPEC!

    We are a group of students committed to fostering discussion about the tough ethical questions in our everyday lives. We seek to create spaces that are thoughtful, nuanced, non-partisan, respectful, and open-minded—where everyone feels free to discuss their thoughts.

  • What We Do

    There is a wide variety of opportunities to get involved with through SPEC, ranging from casual SPEC events to a formalized ethics competition. We encourage anyone to join us whenever, and for whatever length of time, at any of our events. Club membership is not limited or by application, and you can join us at any point during the academic year (even if it's your Senior Spring)!

    SPEC Events

    SPEC hosts SPECial Events every few weeks, creating a space for meaningful conversations around contemporary ethical issues. Each event centers on a distinct theme, such as AI ethics, media ethics, the ethics of education, criminal justice, historical remembrance, and more. Discussions revolve around real-world case studies related to the theme. All perspectives are welcome—no prior knowledge of ethical philosophy is needed or expected. Feel free to drop by anytime and stay as long as you'd like. Dinner or snacks are always provided!

     

     

    Ethics Bowl

    Ethics Bowl is an intercollegiate academic team-based competition that focuses on thoughtful debate about tough ethical issues. Each team of 5 presents an argument on a given topic and then answers questions from both the opposing team and the judges. It's a rigorous time commitment, but an immensely rewarding experience that creates a tight-knit community. Stanford is a highly competitive team, as we regularly do well at a national level. Tryouts are held autumn quarter.

  • Who We Are

    SPEC was created to promote in-depth discussion of real-world ethical issues, and to help students engage with ethical theory and ethical practice. We're an interdisciplinary group of students, all committed to creating and being part of a community that values ethical inquiry and respectful, thoughtful discourse around difficult issues. Our members come from a wide variety of majors including Philosophy, International Relations, Chemistry, Symbolic Systems, Political Science, and Bioengineering (just to name a few). We welcome anyone and everyone to join, whether for a single conversation or for a full four years. Contact us if you have any questions!

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    Co-President

    Ursula Neuner '25

    uneuner@stanford.edu

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    Co-President

    Samiya Rana '25

    samiyazr@stanford.edu

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    Ethics Bowl Team 2021-22

    at Nationals (held virtually)

    Left-to-right: Sajid Farook, Cameron Loughney, JD Pruett, Sarah Yribarren (captain), Natalie Feldman, Bhavya Shah.

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    Ethics Bowl Team 2022-23

    at Nationals (Portland OR)

    Left-to-right: Georgios Mikos, Ally Yun, Natalie Feldman, Cameron Loughney (captain), Ursula Neuner, JD Pruett.

  • Ethics Bowl Info

    The Ethics Bowl is an intercollegiate competition run by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE), where teams of 3-6 students from various universities present arguments centered around practical moral problems, and based on ethical theory. Stanford Ethics Bowl is a highly competitive team and regularly competes well at the National level. In the 2024-25 season, we will have a second team of all new members. There are six open spots on this new team.

    How can I try out for the Stanford Ethics Bowl team?

    Tryouts for the 2024-2025 Ethics Bowl team will be happening on October 7th and 8th. Anyone considering trying out should note that it is a large time commitment, but it is also a very fulfilling experience both from an intellectual and social aspect. No prior experience with ethics or philosophy is required, and we consider all majors equally. Come try out!

    What topics are usually up for discussion during the Ethics Bowl competition?

    The 2024 regional cases, along with rules and guidelines for ethics bowl competitions, can be found here. Previous cases included topics like patents and IP laws surrounding vaccines, the expansion of public childcare, the question of statehood in the context of D.C., the practice of "doxxing" on the Internet, student loan debt forgiveness, ethical forms of protest, journalistic ethics, data privacy, legislation around sex work, predictive policing, cases on animal (and alien!) rights, and many many more. 

    How do rounds work, and what does the competition look like?

    Watch our 2021-22 team compete and win at Regionals at this link! (Note: this competition was online due to COVID, but competitions have since returned to in-person). Rounds in Ethics Bowl are structured to model healthy civil discourse and are more of a discussion amongst the competing teams than a debate geared towards the judges. Each round takes an hour, with 30 minutes for each team. Each half consists of 4 parts:

    1. Initial Presentation: the presenting team has 10 minutes to present a framework responding to a random question relating to one of the cases.
    2. Objections: the opposing team has 5 minutes to object and point out flaws in the presenting team's argument.
    3. Response to Objections: the presenting team has 5 minutes to respond to the objections, and further elaborate on their argument.
    4. Judge's Q&A: the judges have 10 minutes to ask direct questions to the presenting team about their argument.

    This process is then repeated using an entirely new question from a totally different case, with the two teams switching roles.

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    Listen to Our Podcast

    The SPEC Podcast is meant to provide an idea of the types of conversations we have during SPEC dinners and Ethics Bowl practice. We always try to be honest with our individual perspectives and opinions while also brining a sense of open-mindedness and nuance to the important issues at hand.

  • Sign yourself up for our mailing list by:

    1. Following this link. 

    2. Scroll down to "Manage subscriptions"

    3. Enter "practicalethicsclub"

    4. Click "Go To Subscriber Page"

    5. Enter your email and press "subscribe"

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