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
Hope for the Best or Plan for the Worst?
When Patrick's family is in a very bad financial situation, he puts on a brave face and tells his family that everything will be okay, knowing that his message is overly optimistic. His message of hope helps his family cope, but is it active deception or a morally permissible, if not required, part of caring for his family?
Religion at the Hospital
An emergency room physician, Betsy, knows that one of her patients, Steve, is going to die in the next day or so. Steve is not religious in any way and Betsy believes that unless people have faith, they will suffer eternal damnation. The hospital has a rule against medical professionals trying to spread their faith among patients, but Betsy believes the importance of Steve's eternal wellbeing outweighs the importance of hospital rules.
Conjoined Twin Separation
One conjoined twin (Jodie) was born anatomically sound while the other (Mary) had severe abnormalities. Doctors determined that both twins would die if kept together, but Mary would die and Jodie would survive if surgically separated. The parents, devout Catholics, opposed separating the twins but the court ruled against them and ordered the twins be separated.