Swiss Philosophy Olympiad
The Swiss Philosophy Olympiad (SPO) is an annual school competition to select candidates who will represent Switzerland at the International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO), one of the science Olympiads .
The SPO is organized by the SwissPhilO association. The purpose of the Philosophy Olympiad is to promote philosophy and intellectual exchange among young people. The SwissPhilO association is a member of the Swiss umbrella organization for the Science Olympiad .
history
Foundation and first years
The Swiss Philosophy Olympiad was founded in 2005 by the philosophy teacher Jonas Pfister. Seven schoolchildren across Switzerland took part in the first national competition. In May 2006 a delegation represented Switzerland for the first time at an International Philosophy Olympiad, consisting of the participants Thaddäus Perrot and Conrad Krausche. In the same year Maximilian Huber (Kollegium Heilig Kreuz Freiburg) qualified for the IPO at the Austrian Olympics. The number of participants rose continuously in the following years.
Founding of an association and joining the association
The association SwissPhilO was founded to ensure the organization of the SPO. In 2011 the association joined the Association of Swiss Science Olympiads as an associate member, and in 2015 as a full member.
Introduction of semi-finals
After the number of participants had risen to over 100 and to increase the number of students who can take part in philosophical workshops as part of the SPO, semi-finals were introduced in 2013. The two semi-finals in German-speaking Switzerland and one semi-final in French-speaking Switzerland each take part in 12-15 students.
Course of the competition
The task in the competition is based on that of the IPO. It consists of writing a philosophical essay on one of four topics. A philosophical essay is understood to be the well-founded defense of a thesis. The topics, each coming from different areas of philosophy, are either questions or quotations. In the first round, the essays can be written at school or at home. In the second round, the semi-finals, the candidates have two hours, in the final and the IPO four hours. The essays are each evaluated by a jury with regard to the five criteria of the IPO: relevance, coherence, philosophical knowledge, argumentation and originality. 12–15 students can qualify for the semi-finals and 12–15 for the final. Symbolic medals are awarded at the final, 2 bronze, 2 silver and 2 gold medals. The winners of the gold medals also qualify for participation in the International Olympiad.
Previous national Olympiads
| No | year | venue | gold | gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2006 | Bern | Adriano Mannino (Interlaken High School) | Thaddäus Perrot ( Cantonal School Stadelhofen , Zurich) |
| 2 | 2007 | Bern | Christian Tenisch ( College Spiritus Sanctus Brig) | Lukas Stucki ( Gymnasium Neufeld Bern) |
| 3 | 2008 | Bern | Conrad Krausche ( NMS Bern ) | Antoine Vuille (Lycée Jean Piaget Neuchâtel) |
| 4th | 2009 | Friborg | Jason Morris ( High School Köniz-Lerbermatt ) | Corinne Ecoffey (Collège Ste.-Croix Friborg) |
| 5 | 2010 | Bern | Samuel Grütter ( Gymnasium Kirchenfeld Bern) | Muriel Leuenberger ( Cantonal School Zofingen ) |
| 6th | 2011 | Brig | Thierry Schütz ( Freudenberg Cantonal School Zurich) | Samuel Prenner ( Cantonal School Zurich Oberland ) |
| 7th | 2012 | Lucerne | Léonore Stangherlin (Collège Madame de Staël Genève) | Anna Kräuchi ( Gymnasium Neufeld Bern). |
| 8th | 2013 | Lucerne | Léonore Stangherlin (Collège Madame de Staël Genève) | Patrick Coté ( Cantonal School Wettingen ) |
| 9 | 2014 | Lucerne | Lara Gafner ( Gymnasium Neufeld Bern) | Stéphanie Pereiras Gomes (Collège Voltaire Genève) |
| 10 | 2015 | Lucerne | Lara Gafner ( Gymnasium Neufeld Bern) | Elias Meile ( Cantonal School at Burggraben Sankt Gallen) |
| 11 | 2016 | Lucerne | Aline Rickli ( Zurich Oberland Cantonal School ) | Jan Brändle ( Cantonal School Zurich Oberland ) |
| 12 | 2017 | Lucerne | Anna Sutter ( Gymnasium Kirchenfeld Bern) | Isaias Moser ( Cantonal School Zurich Oberland ) |
| 13 | 2018 | Bern | Rafaela Schinner ( College Spiritus Sanctus Brig) | Svenja Hammer ( Einsiedeln Abbey School , Schwyz) |
| 14th | 2019 | Bern | Oona Wälti ( Gymnasium Neufeld ) | Svenja Freidig ( Hofwil High School ) |
| 15th | 2020 | on-line | Manuel Beckert ( Gymnasium Neufeld ) | Severin Rohner ( Cantonal School at Burggraben ) |
Participation and successes in the International Philosophy Olympiad
| year | venue | gold | silver | bronze | Honorable Mention | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Cosenza (Italy) | Conrad Krausche | Instead of Adriano Mannino, Conrad Krausche ( NMS Bern ) takes part. Maximilian Huber, who was trained in Switzerland, takes part for Austria and wins an Honorable Mention. | |||
| 2007 | Antalya (Turkey) | |||||
| 2008 | Iaşi (Romania) | Conrad Krausche | Antoine Vuille | |||
| 2009 | Helsinki (Finland) | |||||
| 2010 | Athens (Greece) | Muriel Leuenberger | ||||
| 2011 | Vienna, Austria) | Thierry Schütz | ||||
| 2012 | Oslo (Norway) | In place of Anna Kräuchi, Tatiana Hirschi ( Cantonal School Zürcher Oberland ) takes part. | ||||
| 2013 | Odense (Denmark) | Léonore Stangherlin
Patrick Coté |
Best Swiss team performance at an International Science Olympiad 2013 | |||
| 2014 | Vilnius (Lithuania) | |||||
| 2015 | Tartu (Estonia) | Lara Gafner | ||||
| 2016 | Ghent (Belgium) | Jan Brandle | ||||
| 2017 | Rotterdam (Netherlands) | Isaias Moser | ||||
| 2018 | Bar (Montenegro) | |||||
| 2019 | Rome (Italy) | Oona Wälti | ||||
| 2020 | online (Slovenia) | Instead of Manuel Beckert and Severin Rohner, Emilie Dill (Institut Florimont Geneva) and Mircea-Petru Ditiu (Ecole internationale de Genève) take part. |
Left
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annual Report 2011 ASSO S. 28-29.
- ↑ statutes, the Swiss Philo
- ↑ Annual Report 2011 ASSO S. 28-29.
- ↑ 2013 Annual Report VSWO pp. 30–31.
- ↑ Frank Murphy (2017), "International Philosophy Olympiad: A Writing Challenge for Young Philosophers. With an Appendix: How To Write a Philosophy Essay. A Guide for IPO Contestants", Journal of Didactics of Philosophy , Vol. 1, 2017, 49 -66, p. 53. Online
- ↑ SwissPhilO website, topics from previous competitions
- ^ Website of the Philosophy Olympiad
- ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ May 27, 2007
- ↑ The Federation April 11, 2012
- ↑ Berner Zeitung BZ March 30, 2015
- ^ Website of the Science Olympiad October 24, 2018
- ↑ Züriost 04.04.2017
- ^ Radio Rottu Oberwallis 13.03.2018
- ^ Website of the Einsiedeln Abbey School
- ↑ Beginners , May 18, 2019
- ↑ Due to the measures taken by the federal government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic , the competition will not be held on site, but online.
- ↑ Der Bund , March 27, 2020
- ↑ The daily newspaper , April 1st, 2020