by Ellie Harris | Mar 26, 2021 | Advocacy, Affirmatives, From Intermediate to Advanced
Carefully read a list of numbers, wait a minute or two, and then try to recall as many of those numbers as you can. It’ll probably be easiest to remember the first and last few numbers. That’s because your brain is wired to recall things in order of primacy and...
by Harrison Durland | Feb 12, 2021 | Debate, Soapbox, Theory
This post is part of a series:See part 1 hereSee part 2 hereSee part 3 here Throughout this series, I’ve been setting the stage for and summarizing Pragmatism as an expansive paradigm/weighing mechanism for a judge to make decisions in debate (among other things, such...
by Jeremiah Mosbey | Feb 9, 2021 | Basics, Fiat, From Novice to Intermediate, Theory, TP
If you’ve been in debate for any length of time, you’re probably well aware of the principle of fiat power. You’ve read about it in debate manuals, learned about it in camp, and probably even argued it in actual rounds. In fact, it’s even addressed in other Ethos...
by Harrison Durland | Jan 8, 2021 | Debate, Soapbox, Theory
In the previous article in this series, I discussed some of the flaws with paradigms that rigidly rely on things such as traditions/norms and rules as the foundational metric for good theory arguments, judging philosophies, or other choices in debate (e.g., which...
by Harrison Durland | Dec 25, 2020 | Debate, Soapbox, Theory
In my previous article I discussed some of the “goals and anti-goals of debate.” It was partially a standalone topic, but it also served as a lead-in to this broader series on what I’ve decided to call Pragmatism Theory (or just “Pragmatism”). This article still won’t...
by Anthony Severin | Dec 21, 2020 | Judging/Judges, Speaking, Technique, Theory
We Ethos coaches frequently hear despair about how judges receive theory-heavy arguments. There’s a perception that judges despise topicality, counterplans never win rounds, and hardly anybody has even heard of a kritik… and those who have heard of a kritik just think...
