The five types of BP debates.

All motions as for example: This house believes abortion is murder or This house would accept Turkey in EU or This house believes that police should search houses to prevent terrorism, have something in common. They can basically be arranged into five basic types of debates. (Thanks to guys from Oxford for explaining them to us):

1. Ends vs. Means
2. Isolation vs. Integration
3. Security vs. Civil liberties
4. Freedom vs. Preventing 3rd party harm
5. Long term vs. Short term

The first example falls into the principles of the Freedom vs. Preventing 3rd party harm debate type. The second motion example fits the principles of Isolation vs. Integration and third motion under the Security vs. Civil liberties type.

If you look at almost any random debate motion, you will see that it "fits" into the principles of these five debate types. Some motions may include a mix of two or even three types of principle debates, but still almost every debate is about these basic ideas. And knowing how to qualify any motion under these basic principle debates is a skill I have observed in many experienced British parliamentary debaters. So why is that such an important skill? Well, because these debaters then always know exactly in which principle spheres the debate is and the understanding of these ideas makes it far easier for them to come up with arguments, examples and underlying logic.

But understanding that all debates are basically about five basic principle debates is also important for your scores, because good adjudicators are also very familiars with these types of debates and if they hear a concept they are familiar with, they know you really understand what you are debating about. That means they are more likely to understand your argumentation in the way you want to present it and therefore consider your speech as having more weight in a debate as such.

Every time you see a motion it is important that you:

1. Qualify it under one or maybe two "Five BP debates" .
2. Ask yourself what is the problem and what principles I can use to explain it in favour of my side.
3. Ask yourself what do I have to prove to tip the scale onto my side of these principles behind five basic debates? So for example if you are the opposition in the this house would invade Iran debate, you should prove that isolation is a better idea (principle) then intervention in this case.
4. Use appropriate argument names (tag names) in the debate itself. These make it easier for the adjudicators to understand the ideas you are presenting under the underlying principle.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. - Henry David Thoreau.

The begining.

Debate is a formal method of interactive and position representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, since it includes persuasion which appeals to the emotional responses of an audience, and rules enabling people to discuss and decide on differences, within a framework defining how they will interact.

Many Slovenians like to debate. Many of them are very good debaters. Many of them have a lot of experience. Many of them have a lot of knowledge...

But many of us are still on the way to get there. Practice can only get you that far, so we need more knowledge and knowledge is perhaps too widely spread and therefore too difficult to access.

So this blog is going to focus on accumulating as much knowledge as Slovenian (and guest) debaters can accumulate. So how are we going to do that?

1. Getting many people involved. The idea is that anyone who has the time and the energy, can add a piece of debating knowledge...a useful link, a link to a debate movie, useful research, notes from an academy lecture... Remember, together we are strong, so if you would like to add something just contact me or any other member of this blog and you will soon be able to contribute to this humble cause.
2. By making sure that all the accumulated information is systematised in such a way that it is most easily accessed. So we are going to support a search option and are going to use the following labels: Theory, Research, Useful link, Motion analyse, Debate analyse, Debate video...
3. By commenting and adding perspectives and ideas to the issues brought up in the post.

Debating knowledge is important for both experienced and little less experienced debaters. We should make sure that this knowledge is more easily accessible to all and that it accumulates instead of gets lost. So if you feel like you would like to add your piece of debate wisedom, contact me via email or just write a comment.