Week 2 More on Debating

QandA Any questions from last week’s debate?

Quick recap Use of prep time Case construction Problem -> Solution -> Principle -> Benefits Clash and rebuttal

Outline Constructing an argument (example) More on rebuttal More on models

Constructing an argument Topic: That we should ban smoking Side: Affirmative Argument 1: Banning smoking will improve people’s health What is the problem? Smoking causes various harms to people’s health: Directly, to the smoker, the inhalation of chemicals poses various risks such as cancer and general health deterioration For third parties, passive smoking damages their health even though they have not chosen to take part in it

Cont. How does the model solve this? 1) A ban on smoking would decrease the sale/supply and consumption/demand of tobacco since it would involve the government banning mainstream supply 2) A ban would creative a normative message that will stigmatise the culture of smoking Why is this important/a good thing? Fewer people smoking means a reduction in the cost to people’s health and thus fewer preventable deaths and illnesses

Rebuttal 3 (of the) different ways to rebut: The argument is based on a false premise (to ‘reject the premise’) E.g. Smoking is harmful. The government should ban things which are harmful. The government should ban smoking. The argument is true but not important/relevant E.g. Civil literacy test to vote – aff argues that being informed is critical to voting well.

Cont. The argument lacks causation E.g. The aff argues that the government should make people informed about civics before they vote but not how the test achieves this outcome. Importantly, there is an onus on the negative team to explain why that causation is lacking. E.g. Portugal decriminalised drugs and it has a lower incidence of drug use. Alternative explanations?

/Models Going not far enough vs. Going too far Understand your burden according to the topic E.g. That obese children should be removed from the care of their parents. What are some reasonable restrictions on your model? What is your model trying to achieve? Does it do this? Does it incur any additional harms/benefits?