Argumentation and Debate Kenneth Opina

A PRI L 2 0, 2 017 America was first discovered by the Norse.

PROPOSITION
- comes from the root word propose which means to
offer for consideration
- a statement offered for consideration, specifically a
statement made to others for the purpose of gaining
acceptance after due consideration
- a statement of judgment that identifies the central issue
in a controversy
OTHER TERMS
STATUS QUO
the present/existing state of things
BURDEN OF PROOF
the risk of the proposition; the obligation of the
affirmative to give good and sufficient reasons for
adopting the proposition
CHARACTERISTICS
- controversy (topical in nature or current)
- one central idea
- government action
unemotional terms
- precise statement of the affirmatives desired decision
EXAMPLES
Resolved:
That the university clubs deplore abortions
and lotteries as immoral.
Resolved: That the national government should adopt a
program of compulsory wage and price controls.
Mortgage rates are too high everything is too
expensive.
What can be done to curb inflation?
Resolved: That cruel, sadistic experimenters should be
forbidden to torture defenseless animals pointlessly.
Resolved: That vivisection should be illegal.
Television viewing contributes to the mounting crime
rate.
Proposition of VALUE
expresses judgments about the qualities of a
person, a place, a thing, an idea, or an event
when you make a statement about values, you
move from the realm of senses and inferences
into the realm of opinions and attitudes
evaluates an action or any subject as whether good
or evil, advantageous or disadvantageous, etc.
Environmental protection is more important than
economic stability.
When they are in conflict, freedom of speech is more
desirable than national security.
Proposition of POLICY
a statement of a course of action to be considered
for adoption
the spheres of policy formulation include all those
problem areas deemed appropriate for
Resolved: That the proposed tax bill should be enacted.
Cyber Libel be decriminalized.
Divorce Bill be passed in Congress.
EXAMPLE: ABORTION
Life begins at conception.
The act of abortion is highly immoral.
Abortion should be decriminalized in the Philippines.

PHRASING THE PROPOSITION

Significant Contemporary Problem
Equal conflicting evidence and reasoning
Single declarative sentence
Avoidance of ambiguity

TYPES OF DEBATE PROPOSITIONS

Proposition of FACT
an objective statement that something exists
the statement can be verified by someone other
than the person making the statement
may be an object or event that can be experienced
directly by the senses of sight, hearing, touch,
smell, and taste

Federal intervention in state policies is unconstitutional.

Shakespeare was not the real author of the literature
that bears his name.

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