Debate Propositions

As one in favor of a more serious debate, I propose the following possible topics:

1. A unified world currency should be implimented.

2. The United Nations should be more powerful then any of its member states

3. The nations of the world should consolidate their patent offices into a World Patent Office

Please comment what you think
-wmLM

Billy's Notes from 5.19.06

Remember the
affirmative says yes to the proposition (the negative always says no to the
proposition – the negative always wants to oppose the status quo).  The
affirmative might want to change the status quo but in a different way from that
which the proposition proposes.

 

• 
  

  When you have had a heated
  emotional exchange, the name for it is quarrel, an argument is strictly words,
  and a clash of ideas



• 
  

  Syllogism
  

  
  
  • 
    

    Discovered by Aristotle
    

    
    
    • 
      

      Wanted to Know what makes
      rhetoric work

    
    
    • 
      

      3 parts to a talk
      

      
      
      • 
        

        Major Premise

      
      
      • 
        

        Minor Premise

      
      
      • 
        

        Conclusion

      
      
      
      
    
    
    • 
      

      He didn’t like Plato because
      Plato founded a school (the Academy) and Aristotle thought he would
      inherit the school, but he didn’t, so he made his own (the Lyceum)
      

      
      
      • 
        

        Plato’s lasted 800 years

      
      
      • 
        

        Aristotle’s wasn’t as good

      
      
      • 
        

        Men are mortal, Socrates is a
        man, so Socrates is mortal

      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Minor premise is the evidence
    

    
    
    • 
      

      If the evidence matches the
      major premise, you have a conclusion
      

      
      
      • 
        

        When they don’t match, you
        include a qualifier
        

        
        
        • 
          

          It is using words such as
          “probably” in order to give yourself wiggle room if you in fact are
          wrong.

        
        
        
        
      
      
      • 
        

        The bigger the qualifier, the
        less absolute the conclusion

      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  Stephen toulman
  

  
  
  • 
    

    There are over 60 types of
    syllogisms
    

    
    
    • 
      

      If people don’t know them, how
      can you argue, he made another way

    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Socrates is a man, therefore
    Socrates is mortal
    

    
    
    • 
      

      The warrant is that men are
      mortal
      

      
      
      • 
        

        Socrates is a man, therefore
        Socrates is mortal, since all men are mortal

      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    In his situation, the warrant is
    the foundation of the argument, so it is the final part of the claim
    

    
    
    • 
      

      When you give a claim in this
      method, the warrant can be interpreted, however you didn’t actually say
      it.

    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    The system works like
    

    
    
    • 
      

      Claim

    
    
    • 
      

      Conclusion

    
    
    • 
      

      Contention

    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  Harry was born in Bermuda,
  therefore Harry is a British subject, since Bermuda is British soil.
  

  
  
  • 
    

    He may have been born of
    vacationers who chose their won citizenship

  
  
  • 
    

    He may have been born in an
    embassy or on neutral ground

  
  
  • 
    

    You can change your citizenship

  
  
  • 
    

    He may have been born in Bermuda
    before the British came (there is no year give)

  
  
  • 
    

    Harry may not be Human
    

    
    
    • 
      

      In this situation the qualifier
      is weak because the contentions are small

    
    
    • 
      

      With more and more contentions,
      the qualifier grows

    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    We have seven contentions, so it
    is barely worth making a conclusion

  
  
  
  


• 
  

  The qualifier is used to guard
  yourself about refutation



• 
  

  Ask for the definition of the word
  in question “What do you mean by ________?”
  

  
  
  • 
    

    “What is the meaning of mortal?”

  
  
  
  

 

 

Work

• 
  

  Read the pages



• 
  

  Think of possible propositions



• 
  

  Must have definite count of the
  debaters for June 9th

Dr. Carney's and Mr. Doyle's Debate Topics

Debate Topics

Resolved:

The designated hitter is the key to more offense in major league baseball.

Black and white movies are more engaging than films in color.

Welcome

Welcome to the 4 of you who have registered so far.

Just to check you have set up your account properley, please post a comment on this post with your name in it.

Then please feel free to propose any debate topics by creating a new post.

To comment on a post, click on the link underneath it. It should say "6 Comments" or something like that depending on the number of comments.

To make a new post, simply click the Green "Plus" sign next to where it says "Bronxville Forensics" at the top of the right collum.

Any questions, feel free to email me : will4laptop@gmail.com



Thanks,

-William L McGough

Billy's Notes

Billy's Notes from today (5.12.06)'s meeting:

Debate meeting 5/12/06

The Four Roles

• Introduction
  
  
  
  • State a position (affirmative/negative)
  
  
  • Introduce your group members and their roles
  
  
  • State your main contentions
  
  
  • Give a preview of polls, history, statistics or other
    evidence that you will be hearing from the next speakers
  
  
  
  


• Constructive
  
  
  
  • Second speaker on the team is constructive
  
  
  • Prove the reasons stated by the introductory speaker
  
  
  • Construct arguments to support the claim
  
  
  • You must do exactly what the introduction stated
  
  
  • State any evidence or statistics that promote your
    side
  
  
  
  


• Refutation
  
  
  
  • Defend yourself against attacks
  
  
  • Attack the opposition and their points made
  
  
  • Point out flaws in the opposition’s evidence and facts
  
  
  • If no attacks have been made, you must think and
    anticipate the attacks
  
  
  • Debate is often won or lost on refutation; most
    important
  
  
  • Speaker must be able to think on his feet
  
  
  
  


• Conclusion
  


• You may not introduce new evidence or reasons in the
  Conclusion


• May seem as if this speaker has not much to do ahead
  of time but he (or she) must pay the most attention during the debate


• Reviews the case, and wraps up all of the strong
  points of your case, and the weak points in the opposition
  

General role facts

Conclusion and Refutation speakers must be able to
contextualize evidence against you to lessen the blow, you can’t assume the
judges didn’t hear it

The goal is to prove your side is better, not that it is
perfect. This is not geometric proof; We aim at probability not certainty.

Use words like “probably,” “very possibly” and “most
likely.” Allow room for error because there is almost always some doubt.

Judges like Manners and Courtesy

You are talking to the Judge, not to the other team. Never
address a person.

Sarcasm is not appropriate, some humor is.

A team must have its case planned, all of the team members
must know what the other people are going to say.

A refutation speaker must be able to think on his feet, and
to be the devil’s advocate.

Concluding speakers must re-enforce the points made in the
introduction, and must pay attention throughout the entire debate.

Terms of Debate

• Proposition must attack the status quo.


• A side is either affirmative (support the proposition)
  or negative (stay with the status quo)


• The affirmative always goes first and last (first intro,
  last conclusion)


• Negative team doesn’t always have to defend the status
  quo, they may just reject the affirmative’s claim of the method of reform.


• Status quo is right until it is proven bad.


• Turns
  
  
  
  • Affirmative intro
  
  
  • Negative intro
  
  
  • Affirmative construction
  
  
  • Negative construction
  
  
  • Break
  
  
  • Negative refutation
  
  
  • Affirmative refutation
  
  
  • Negative conclusion
  
  
  • Affirmative conclusion.


• The affirmative refutation speaker gets the benefit of
  hearing the negative refutation before they go.
  
  
  
  • Negative refuter has to defend possible attacks


• Affirmative contentions can’t be able to be solved
  without changing the status quo


• Contentions must have something to prove about the
  Proposition


• The responsibility of the introductory speaker is to
  outline the definition of the proposition. Take the key terms in the
  proposition or contentions and define them or question how they are being
  interpreted.
  
  
  
  • Very often the two sides agree on the definition
  
  
  • A debate can simply be a fight of the interpretation
    of the wording of the proposition.