Case Construction Tactics

Case Construction and Tactics Meredith Prior

Case Constructions
Basic Issues
Define the motion - work out the key words
Model
Who are you - your world view
What is the problem and are you solving it?
Who are the stakeholders - have you got arguments covering all participants
What are the possible responses to your case, can you minimise the attack?

Case Constructions
Models
What are they?
Major question:
Who, Where, When, How
Three options - TWS legalise the sale of organs
Use someone else’s
Use someone else’s and add to it
Think of a whole new one
Where should it come?
How should it be used?
Example: TWS introduce compulsory military service

Case Constructions
Who are you
You should always think about what sort of person you are in the debate
If you understand your world view - i.e. how you see the world it helps you be more consistent in your position

Case Constructions
Stakeholders
Who are the people affected by the debate?
How are they affected?
How to create an argument around them:
Will this be good/bad for them
Why is their position in the debate important
Eg - TWS introduce national paid parental leave

Case Constructions
Negative Team Stance
Three Options
Deny the Problem & Support the Status Quo
Agree with the Problem & Propose an Alternative Solution
Accept the Problem & Argue that the Affirmative’s will do more harm than good (implicitly supporting the Status Quo)

Tactics
Hard/Soft Lines
Most debates will give you several options as to how to proceed - “lines”
Soft line - a small change to the status quo
Hard line - a substantial change to the status quo
Example: TWS legalise drugs:
Soft line - legalising soft drugs such as marijuana to those addicted.
Hard line - legalising all drugs to everyone (of all ages) and they can buy as much as they want.
Lines will dictate the amount of arguments you have and the strength of your position

Tactics
Hard/Soft Lines II
The harder the line the more philosophically consistent you, but the more crazy you sound - the more harms may be produced by your model
The softer the line, the more questionable you are on the principle, but you may sound more reasonable.
The best position is to be somewhere in the middle- how to judge - laugh test!
Exercise:
TWS legalise the sale of organs

Tactics
Problem-Solution Gap
Every debate has an affirmative team trying to solve a problem (many debates will also include a negative team also trying to solve a problem).
Teams must ensure that the size of the problem matches the size of their solution - the problem is more likely to occur when a team proposes a soft model eg:
TWS legalise drugs
Problem: Huge addiction rates to harmful drugs that kill people - need to minimise harm
Solution: Legalise marijuana to addicts

Tactics
Problem-Solution Gap II
It can happen in reverse too - TWS take tougher action on climate change:
Problem: Countries not taking action to get a binding treaty on climate change
Solution: Invading countries who do not try and sign a treaty
How to exploit:
Oppositions should attack the case as being unable to effectively make inroads on the problem they themselves wanted to tackle.
The opp can propose an alternative that improves only marginally on the prop but be more effective

Tactics
Prioritisation of Matter
Who are you in the debate?
Philosophical position - YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS!
Owning your principles - I.e. torture debate - recognise torture is not great, but there are important principles of balancing harms
Know your weakness and try and tackle it early -
TWS cut off welfare to parents whose children do not attend school regularly

Case Constructions
Exercise
THW ban labour unions
Define the motion - work out the key words
Model
Who are you - your world view
What is the problem and are you solving it?
Who are the stakeholders - have you got arguments covering all participants
What are the possible responses to your case, can you minimise the attack?

Case Construction Tactics

by Monash Association of Debaters on Mar 31, 2011

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