Lincoln-Douglass Debate a.k.a. LD

Basics  LD is a value debate-in other words you are arguing what SHOULD be right not what necessarily is right  Started by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass to debate slavery in the elections of 1860  Use three constructives  Flow EVERYTHING!!!!!

Constructing a Case Intro catch judges attention should lend emotional or logical support to your stance should directly tie to a point or thesis always state “for this reasons and those that follow, I stand firmly in support/negation of today's resolution that….

Definitions  These are central them of LD  Use definitions that best suit the topic and makes the most sense!  Primary source is Black’s Law Dictionary but any will work  Define almost every word in the resolutions-even words like “is” can be twisted by an opponent  Ex: in LD debate the entire argument was whether or not slaves were DEFINED as human beings

Value  Value LD is a value debate so this is most important part of round! Common Values are Freedom, Utilitarianism, Quality of Life, Life, Individualism, etc Everything in the case should SUPPORT the VALUE  Value Justification Justification of why your value is important Use logic and/or Great Philosopher/Historian

Criterion  How your value will be achieved  This is the measurement of your values success  Can be more specific value that is part of the larger value  This is oft-times the “voting issue” for judges  You MUST make the relationship between your case, your value and your criterion make sense in short summary

Common Values and/or Criterions  Individualism: the value of the individual, the growth of the individual  Utilitarianism: greatest good for the greatest number of people  Life: refers to life itself, with inherent value REGARDLESS of quality of life  Quality of Life: condition of living  Freedom: traditional American value that can be interpreted to be just about anything  Civilization: a society that has reached a high measure of development or a society acquainted with both pragmatic and idealistic methods of operation

More Values/Criterions  Progress: Development or improvement in knowledge or skill  Quality of the Future: either 1-doing not necessarily what’s best for now but best for the future or 2-concern for quality of Life from this second on  Future: Same as Q of F but more generally hoping we all have one  Global Security: not blowing up the world, the US not be invaded  Justice: Use of authority to uphold what is correct or true

More Values/Criterions  Truth: inherent value, some religious associations, conformity of fact  Human Dignity: the individual ethics which make us human and not animals nor slaves, adherence to personal ethics  Social Contract: agreement between a citizen and his government  Dignity: Human dignity+justifiable pride in a country/nation  Potential: judgment not by what something DOING but what it could do  Potential Good: the good something could be doing

Points/Contentions (Constructives)  You should have at least 3 but no more than 5  Usually statements of opinion (stated as fact) backed by facts!  Remember 2 nd best first, worst 2 nd and best contention last  Evidence is important but NOT the focus of LD  Try to always use IMPORTANT historical figures

Conclusion  Should emphasize the main point of your case AND your value  Should bring closure to your case  SUMMARIZE your value and criterion and make the clear connection one more time!

Basic Structure  1AC6 minutes  CX3 minutes  1NC/R7 minutes  CX3 minutes  1AR4 minutes  2NR6 minutes  2AR3 minutes  Notice that the AFF always gets 3 speeches but the NEG has more time for individual speeches

A few words to know…  Utilitarianism: the greatest good for the greatest amount of people  Pragmatic: practical, real-world scenario  Ideal: Opposite of pragmatic, what we would LIKE to have happen  Inherent: inevitably and originally part of something  Intrinsic: something that has value in and of itself  Extrinsic: opposite of intrinsic, has value because of what it does or causes  Social Contract: agreement between people and their government

A few more ideas to know….  Locke Social Contract: Humans are evil by nature and government/social contract is all that kept humans from becoming animals  Hobbes Social Contract: Similar to Locke but way more vehement Would NOT agree with Rousseau’s second purpose of Social Contract  Rousseau's Social Contract: People are basically good and government exists to improve life for everyone by protecting its people and IF people are secure to provide services for people

Even more things to know….  Maslow’s Hierarchy: this is NOT a ranking of values-really it says that without food, air and shelter humans will not think about anything but being safe so humanity won’t feel emotion or look for value/moral decisions  Maslow believes in self-actualization that is only achieved when basic survival needs are met

Things to Remember  FLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!  Spend the majority of your time on your Value/Criterion and making sure your contentions support them!  Ask for the Judges Paradigm  Have at least 10 constructives to choose from in each round (both AFF and NEG) so that you never run the exact same case twice!

Resolved: A just society ought not use the death penalty as a form of punishment