Does God exist? Do human beings have free will?  What is the nature of the human mind?  Is it morally worse to actively kill a person than to passively allow that person to die?

Hugh Edwards (Year 8), Ben Power (Year 9), Richard O’Halloran and Robert Holt (Year 10) and James Sprivulis (Year 11) faced these questions recently in the inaugural ‘Philosothon’ against teams from other schools in the Perth metropolitan region.

Students were asked to participate in four 30-minute ‘communities of enquiry’ facilitated and judged by university lecturers who specialise in philosophy. The discussions were challenging, at times complex, on occasions humorous, but always enlightening for those who participated.

Christ Church finished third overall, which was a great achievement. In addition, Hugh Edwards won the Year 8 Philosopher Award along with The Haynes Prize which is awarded by the Association for Philosophy in Schools for exhibiting the most honest effort towards collaborative inquiry.