Start class with a real dilemma from history.
Moralia is a free 5–10 minute discussion starter from real history: one true story a day, stopped at the exact moment someone had to choose.
How to run it in class
- Put today's story on the screen. Open Moralia on the classroom display and read it together, or press Listen and let the narration read it aloud.
- Let the class choose before anyone knows the outcome. Each story ends with two options, each with its own reason. A show of hands works; students 16 and over can also choose on their own phones.
- Reveal. For today's story, enter the class's choice in the app to see what really happened, how other players split, and two philosophers weighing in, one on each side. An answer can't be changed once it's made, so take the vote first. Running a past story instead? Its page has a Reveal what happened button for class use, with the outcome and both philosophers, and nothing is recorded.
- Discuss. There's no right answer to reach; the reasons are the lesson. The questions below work with any story.
Who it's for
History, social studies, ethics and civics, from high school up. Moralia's terms ask that anyone using the app themselves be at least 16, so with younger students, run it from your own device on the classroom screen.
Questions for any story
- What did each option risk, and who would have paid the price?
- What did the person know at the time, and what do we know now that they couldn't?
- Under each choice there's a principle. Which one was stronger here, and why?
- Which single detail, if it were different, would change your answer?
- Now that you know what really happened, would you choose the same way again?
- Who else in the story had something at stake, and what would they have chosen?
Privacy
No accounts needed. Anyone can play without signing up, and their answer history stays on their own device.
Choosing sends only an anonymous tally: which story, which option and the date, with no account, no device ID and no IP address.
Usage statistics store nothing on the device and never record which answer was picked. They can be switched off on the You screen.
Free, with no ads. We don't sell data or use it for advertising.
Read the full privacy policy →
Past stories
Every past story has its own page with the full text and both choices, which helps when planning a lesson around a theme. The outcome stays hidden until you press Reveal what happened, so you can take the vote first.
- Twice Against Philosophy2 Oct 2026323 BC · Aristotle, Alexander's old tutor, charged with impiety as Athens turns on all things Macedonian
- In Her Own Name1 Oct 2026690 · Wu Zetian, China's power behind the throne for decades, as the court urges her to take it herself
- The Paper They Want Signed30 Sep 2026May 1431 · Joan of Arc, nineteen, after months on trial in English-held Rouen
- The Sleigh West29 Sep 2026December 1812 · Napoleon, retreating from his invasion of Russia with what is left of his army
- Into the Tent28 Sep 2026Homer's Iliad · Priam, king of Troy, twelve days after Achilles killed his son Hector