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...
by Harrison Durland | Dec 11, 2020 | Debate, Soapbox, Theory
Government team: “The purpose of debate is to have civil discussions about the topics before us.” Opposition team: “No, the primary purpose of competitive debate should be fair competition.” And so I listened as the teams spent chunks of the debate trying to debate...
by Ben Brown | Dec 10, 2020 | Counterplans, Debate, From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, Negative, Theory, TP
A few months ago, for the first time in my Team Policy career, I wrote a Negative brief which centered around a topical counterplan. Having never attempted this before, I had to sit down for a good while and think through the theoretical justifications for such...
by Harrison Durland | Dec 17, 2018 | Inherency, Theory, Topicality
In mid-2017, I wrote an article describing what the stock issues are and why they are useful. I still recommend that article for a basic introduction into the stock issues, but since then, I have updated my views on the framework. This article presents a newer and...
