2010 Elective Proposals from Llano, Wright and Snider

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ELECTIVES

More will come as faculty send them in!

LLANO

Eastern Philosophy and Debating

An overview of ideas from Eastern thought that are not so much a contribution to strategy as they are a contribution to your relationship with debating. Why we choose to debate will be examined from these viewpoints as opposed to how we choose to debate. However, keen students will definitely be able to make connections between this discussion and the particulars of practice.

Debate as a Martial Art

Applying the principles of martial arts to debate reveals some approaches to debate strategy that you might not have considered and that your opponents certainly are not ready for. Examination of martial arts strategies, samurai combat philosophy will be introduced and discussed and attention will be paid to the holistic way a debater should prepare for competition.

Annoying things Debaters do but shouldn't.

A combination of a rant and an enlightening lecture from an American adjudicator who seldom breaks but is happy not to, because he won't have to hear all of these terrible things you do each round in your speeches. Come learn some more productive things to do with your speech time as well as all those parts where you are not speaking.

Ancient Rhetoric and Contemporary Practice.

The principles of the ancient arts of rhetoric come to us via the ancient Greek and Roman world. This elective will attempt to discern contemporary uses of these ideas for debate. Attention will be split equally between speech style and organization as well as argument development and construction.

Dialogue as a Debating Principle

Years after its publication, David Bohm's groundbreaking study _On Dialogue_ is still seen as a response to debate. In this session we will see that Bohm's call for dialogue contains interesting and unique principles that can only be applied to BP debating. Specifically, each position on the table can learn how to engage and interact with every other position via Bohm's insights. Time will be reserved for discussion and dialogue on team interaction in a BP round and strategies for success.

WRIGHT

Ideas for Electives:

1) Narrative Reasoning: This elective discusses the persuasive form and function of narrative. Defining narrative reasoning and combining it with more traditional appeals to reason makes debaters more persuasive to various audiences.

2) Persuasive Appeals –social science as a weapon of mass consumption. This lecture will address some of the more socially scientific visions of contemporary persuasion. Including some of these devices in a debate works to demonstrate the shared space between debaters, judges, and audiences.

3) Popular Culture—using everyday experience to persuade. According to Barry Brummett, popular culture is “those systems or artifacts that most people share and that most people know about… In speaking of popular culture, then, we are concerned with things, like television, that are part of the everyday experience of most people” (Rhetoric in Popular Culture 27). How might these applications of these systems work to flesh out a case?

4) Aristotelian rhetoric: the form and function of different rhetorical forms. Recognizing the particulars of a case and a motion, using the parameters set forth by rhetorical scholarship, debaters could prep more fluid and convincing arguments.

5) Histories—how historiography and the epideictic shape us. Considering the international flavor of Worlds-style debate, learning and applying historical narrative in a debate could establish credibility to various argumentation claims.

SNIDER

International Relations Paradigms

There are paradigms, or “world views,” within which international relations events are conceptualized and decisions are made. How you view the international system influences how you think about it and the arguments you use. This elective will examine popular IR paradigms (realism, constructivism, etc.) and explain how to use them to build a team line, come up with major arguments, avoid contradictions and have a coherent approach.

How to Make Arguments More Important

There are standard things that a debater can do to give issues you bring to the debate more “impact.” If you are aware of these significance giving ideas then you can pick the one or two that apply best to the argument you are making and use them to convince the judges that your position is more important than rival positions that lack this kind of substance.

Ecological Philosophies

There are philosophical perspectives on the relationship between human beings and the ecology that can help you create coherent, consistent and compelling arguments in debates about ecological issues. They range from very human-centered to very bio-centered. These can also help you, as an individual, determine what your relationship with the ecology is and how it should operate in your life as well as in debate.

Thicker Extensions

Too often your extension is a good idea, but it consist of you saying the same things over and over again in different ways. This elective will help you learn how to build n extension out of relevant components to make it more compelling and much harder to refute. Deliver a second team extension for 4-5 minutes and keep the interest and attention of the judges while building compelling ideas.

Avoiding Doing Irritating Things While You Speak

Many debaters have arguments and make sense, and even sound good, but still do many things in delivery of a speech that detracts from their content and makes them a lot less persuasive. Learn what these things are and learn drills to make you stop doing them.