CASE Library

Explore The Issues that Matter.

We excitedly invite you to browse, search, and explore our newly redesigned library of over 300 case studies which render some of the most complex and controversial moral and political issues of our time. These cases were formerly used for official NHSEB competitions at the Regional, Divisional, and National Championship levels. They are freely available for public use under Creative Commons licenses.

The NHSEB Case Library is an excellent tool for competitive preparation, internal or intramural competition, or beyond the context of the Ethics Bowl activity completely—as a classroom resource for Grades 9-12 and beyond.

Featured Cases

NAVIGATING THE LIBRARY

NHSEB’s Case Library is now fully browsable by individual case, or by Case Set—using the filters below. Or, if you already know a bit about what you’re looking for, the entire library of over 300 Ethics Bowl cases is newly indexed, referenced, and searchable by title, topic, keyword, year, and category. Each individual case entry contains the full text of the case and discussion questions as they originally appeared for competitive use, all references assembled in hyperlinked footnotes, and additional contextual resources curated by NHSEB HQ.

CASE SET COLLECTION

FIND AN ETHICS BOWL CASE

ATTRIBUTION AND CITATION

All National High School Ethics Bowl cases are the intellectual property of the Parr Center for Ethics, and all are freely available for public use under Creative Commons licenses once retired from use in NHSEB competitions. This library represents thousands of hours of work from our Contributing Authors, Editors, and others. Please do not reproduce NHSEB cases or sets—in part or in whole—without attribution, or modify the text of individual cases or sets. If you reproduce or make reference to NHSEB cases from this library (e.g., in classroom materials, academic papers, etc.), please attribute and/or cite those materials:

National High School Ethics Bowl (Ed.), <YEAR>. “<Case Title>.” National High School Ethics Bowl Case Library. UNC Parr Center for Ethics: Chapel Hill, NC. http://nhseb.org/case-library

Browse The Library

2021-2022 Regional Case Set, 2021-2022 National Case Set NHSEB 2021-2022 Regional Case Set, 2021-2022 National Case Set NHSEB

Suffering in the Wild

Humankind is now able to do something they were unable to: reduce the suffering of animals in the wild. Many have argued that, because humanity is able to end wild animal suffering, we should when there aren’t significant consequences. Humanity should do its best to make its impact on animals positive. Critics worry that this may disrupt complex ecosystems or meddle with the natural order. Others argue we should focus on ending the suffering humanity is responsible for, or that the task is so large it would be impossible to achieve.

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2018-2019 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard 2018-2019 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard

De-Extinction

Proponents of de-extinction argue that humans have an obligation to bring back species that were driven to extinction by human activities, such as the dodo bird. Opponents of de-extinction point out that de-extinction will draw away resources and attention from other scientific efforts to preserve biodiversity.

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