Introduction to Policy Debate

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1、IntroductiontoPolicyDebateByJohnR.PragerINTRODUCTIONTothedebater:ThistextdevelopedinresponsetotheneedsofmyownstudentsduringmytenureasacoachofasmallschoolinMichigan.Thebookhasgrownanddevelopedovertheyearsasvariousfashionsdeveloped,flourished,andweresucceededinturnbythe"nextnewthing."Youshould

2、keepinmindthatthestyleofdebatediscussedheremayvaryfromwhattakesplaceinyourlocale.Yourcoachisthebestguidetowhattheoryprevailsinyourdebatingarea.Nevertheless,Ibelievethateverythinginthisbookisreasonablyaccurateindepictingcontemporarydebatetheory.Asyouwillbecomeaware,certaintheoreticalissuesare

3、farfromsettledamongexperts,andIhavetriedtonotewhereseriousdisagreementsexist.Inaddition,moderndebatetheoryisincreasinglyplasticandmutable.Experienceddebatersmaywishtogatherquotationsfromnotableexpertstojustifythetheoreticalpositionstheywanttoadvance.Butitismoredesirabletounderstandtheoretica

4、lissuesandarguetheirmerits,ratherthantorelyonassertionsfromexpertsastowhichtheoryshouldbepreferred.Thistextbookshouldnotbequotedasadefinitivesourceto"prove"aparticularelementofdebatetheory,sincethereisnosuchthingasdefinitivedebatetheory.Chapter1TheNatureofDebateWhatisdebate?Initsessentials,d

5、ebateisanextendedargument.Twogroupsofpeopledisputewhetherastatementistrueorfalse.TheAffirmativeteamintheroundsupportsthestatement,whiletheNegativeteamopposesit.Oncealltheargumentshavebeenputforth,animpartialjudgedecidesthematterinfavorofoneteamortheother.Thedecisionisbasedonlyonthematerialpr

6、esentedduringthedebate...thejudge’spersonalfeelingsdonotenterintohisdecision.What’sreallybeingdecidedisnotwhetherthestatement—usuallycalledtheresolution,proposition,ortopic—istrueorfalse,butwhichteamisbetterabletosustainitsarguments.Whatsortofthingsaredebated?Therearethreetypesofstatementsth

7、ataresuitableforargumentation.Thesimplestarepropositionsoffact.Debatesofthissorthingeonwhethersomethingistrueorfalse;oftentheytrytoestablishacauseandeffectrelationship.Ofcourse,somepropositionsoffactaresosimplethattherearenogroundsforargumentamongr