The 5 Most Annoying Framework Arguments by Stephen Babb

More and more, the average case framework appears to serve three primary functions.
First, it numbs the judge’s mind into submission and apathy. This is of course an essential step in preparing said judge for whatever shenanigans are…

Three Ways to Improve Your Argument Comparison

Teaching Weakness: The Indulgent Logic of Mutual Judge Preferences by Stephen Babb

Mutual judge preferences (MJP) have rapidly become an oddly unquestioned convention on the LD national circuit. From the perspectives of current debaters, this is more than understandable…

Targeted Killing & Backlash by Stephen Babb

One of the most popular negative arguments on the March/April topic will be that the…

Three Ways to Answer Skepticism

In debate we use the term “skepticism” to refer to a broad set of arguments which conclude that no sound normative conclusions can be drawn. It is therefore never appropriate, the argument goes, to say that a given action or policy is morally right or wrong.
Arguments with…

Where Philosophy Went Awry in Lincoln-Douglas Debate by Stephen Babb

There are countless virtues that LD debaters have thankfully borrowed from its ancestral Policy background. Its increasingly compartmentalized treatment of philosophy is not one of them, however.
LD debaters…

The Basic Battle Lines of Metaethics (with complaints about mistaken appropriations of philosophical language) by Christian Tarsney

After I posted an irritated Facebook status about debaters’ misuse of the term “truth-functional,” Adam…

Three Things You Can Do To Improve Your 2NR by Adam Torson

The conventional wisdom is that the 2NR is, as a general rule, the most poorly delivered speech in LD. In many rounds negs can afford to skate by because the time disadvantage makes up for a poorly conceived 2NR. But if you are…

Some Notes about Critiques in LD by Scott Phillips

Like many concepts that have filtered over to LD from policy, many concepts about critiques seem to have suffered from the game of telephone that got them there. I want to address three specifically that have been grinding my gears while…

Affirmative Ethics Choice by Ryan Lawrence

The 2010–2011 academic year involved a number of debaters advocating for “affirmative framework choice” in the 1AC. Given the loaded nature of this term due to its origin in policy debate, I do not like the name that some debaters are using for it, nor do…

The Basics of Evidence Ethics by Adam Torson

As with any academic endeavor, it is inappropriate to misrepresent evidence in…

Thoughts on Necessary But Insufficient Burdens in LD by Ryan Lawrence

The term “necessary but insufficient” has become vilified in the LD community as of late. While for the past couple of years there has been a growing swell of resistance to “NIBs” and theory arguments have…