The Value and Criterion Handbook

1 The Value and Criterion Handbook Victory Briefs Textbook: The Value and Criterion Handbook 2012 Victory Briefs, LLC. Victory Briefs Textbooks are published by: Victory Briefs, LLC. 925 North Norman Place Los Angeles, California 90049. Publisher: Victor Jih | Managing Editor: Adam Torson | Editor: Adam Torson | Contributors: Priya Aiyar, Stephen Babb, Eric Beerbohm, Fred Carroll, Dr. Ryan Davis, Jeremy Mallory, Jake Nebel, Tara Norris, Christian Tarsney, Marshall Thompson, Peter van Elswyk For customer support, please email or call The Value and Criterion Handbook Introduction .. 1. Part I: Moral Theory .. 3. Methods of Moral Argumentby Eric 3. I. The Status of Intuitions in Moral Argument .. 4. II. Coherence Method of Moral Reasoning .. 7. III. Moral Relativism ..11. IV. Types of Moral Argument.

2 12. V. Conclusion ..20. Consequentialism by Jake Nebel .. 22. 1. What is Consequentialism? ..22. 2. The Strategic Costs and Benefits of 3. Arguments For/Against Consequentialism ..27. Conclusion ..29. Kantian Ethics by Dr. Ryan W. 30. 1 Content of Kantian Ethics ..30. 2 Grounds of Kantian 3 Thoughts about Debate ..37. Conclusion ..38. The Moral Philosophy of Immanuel Kant by Eric Beerbohm .. 39. Presenting the Contention I: Duty and the Moral Law .. 43. Contention 2: Human Dignity ..49. Contractualism: Consequentialism's Biggest Critic by Eric Beerbohm .. 53. I. Introduction ..53. II. Consequentialism's III. Scanlon's Alternative to Consequentialism ..55. IV. Criticisms of Scanlon's Theory ..61. V. Conclusion ..61. i Virtue Ethics by Peter van Elswyk .. 63. Introduction ..63. An Explanation of Virtue Ethics.

3 64. Debating With Virtue Ethics ..72. Conclusion ..74. Reading List ..75. Moral Obligation and Supererogation by Eric 76. I. Moral Obligation ..76. II. Supererogation ..84. A Debater's Introduction to Metaethics by Christian Tarsney .. 90. Introduction ..90. Moral Language ..92. Moral Reality ..94. Moral Metaethics in Debate ..102. Part II: Political Theory .. 108. Social Contract Theory by Marshall 108. Background on the Social Contract .. 108. Hobbes' Social Contract Locke's Social Contract Theory ..112. Rousseau's Social Contract Theory ..114. Other Notable Social Contract Notions ..117. Conclusion ..119. Criticisms of Social Contract Theory by Priya Aiyar .. 120. Overview ..120. Thomas Hobbes ..122. John Locke ..124. Jean-Jacques Rousseau ..125. Bibliography ..127. Theories of Justice by Stephen 129.

4 Justice and LD Debate ..130. Justice and its Criteria ..131. John Rawls (1921-2002) ..131. Robert Nozick (1938-2002) ..134. Communitarianism ..136. ii Rawls, Sandel, and Reiman: Social Justice through the Eighties by Jeremy Mallory .. 139. John Rawls ..139. Michael Sandel ..140. Jeffrey Reiman ..142. To Each What S/he Deserves: Desert and Justice by Eric Beerbohm .. 145. I. Theories of Desert in Political 146. II. Appeals to Desert in Policymaking ..150. III. Justice as Fairness? A Feminist Critique by Eric Beerbohm .. 158. I. Okin's Case Against Rawls: Giving Gender its Due ..159. II. Rawls's First Affirmative Constructive ..161. III. Okin's First Negative IV. Rawls's Rebuttal ..165. V. Conclusion ..168. Egalitarianism and Social Equality by Eric Beerbohm .. 171. A. What is Wrong with Inequalities?

5 172. B. Five Internal Challenges to Egalitarianism ..177. C. Conclusion: Living Behind the Veil of Ignorance ..181. Feminism and Feminist Theory by Tara Norris .. 183. History ..183. Introduction to Terms ..184. Framework ..185. The Literature ..186. Conclusion ..187. Environmentalism by Fred Carroll .. 188. Reformism ..188. Deep Ecology ..188. Social Ecology ..190. The Value of Autonomy by Eric Beerbohm .. 192. I. Four Dichotomies of Autonomy ..193. II. Four Conceptions of Autonomy ..196. Further Reading ..203. iii Introduction Lincoln-Douglas Debate has evolved a great deal over the last twenty years, but at its core it is still Value debate. Since the early 1990s, Victory Briefs has sold Value and Criterion handbooks composed of thoughtful essays from accomplished debaters and coaches on various philosophical concepts relevant to LD.

6 This year we have decided to retire the series and bring you an updated Value and Criterion Handbook . For this book we culled through each volume in the series, selecting and updating essays that are most relevant for today's LD Debater. We also added a great deal of new material to ensure that we continue to provide resources on the cutting edge and to supplement the material that has helped generations of LD Debaters navigate their way through the world of moral and political theory. Two principles have guided the process of bringing you this updated version of the Value and Criterion Handbook . First, we place a great deal of emphasis on debate applicability. Our hope is not only that readers will gain a deeper understanding of the philosophical concepts commonly deployed in LD Debate, but also that they will be able to utilize that knowledge in constructing case positions, writing blocks and frontlines, and engaging opposing positions.

7 For that reason you will see debate applicability emphasized throughout the text. Second, we hope that this book will be a jumping-off point for further exploration and research of these important and compelling schools of thought. No essay in this Handbook is a comprehensive guide to its subject matter. While you will be able to deploy many of the concepts you learn right away, we also hope to give you the resources to dig deeper into topic areas that interest you and to navigate philosophical writing with more confidence and understanding. In other words, this book provides you with the foundation to engage Value debate in a way that is not only philosophically competent but also innovative. The material in this volume is designed to provide useful information to all debaters regardless of their experience or debate style.

8 As with any collection of opinions from a community of debaters, our authors periodically disagree. We believe this represents a great opportunity to think more deeply about a given philosophical issue or how to deploy philosophical insights in a debate round. Ultimately there is more than one way to debate well, and finding the style that is most comfortable for you is important to reaching your maximum potential. Notes on the Text This book is divided into sections on Moral Theory and Political Theory. In real life that distinction is somewhat artificial. While the organization gives you a rough categorization of the schools of thought presented, you will find that essays in Part One have a great deal of relevance for political theory and that essays in Part Two have a great deal of relevance for Moral Theory.

9 I encourage you to avoid pigeon-holing any of the theorists presented as relevant to only one type of resolution. 1. Moreover, this book has essays from debaters and coaches of different eras. We have included topics that are of enduring relevance to LD Debate. We have also updated the essays to reflect subsequent developments. For example, several of the essays were written when John Rawls and Robert Nozick were still alive and contributing new thoughts to the world of political philosophy. For the most part the text has been left intact to preserve the diverse array of our author's stylistic sensibilities, but for the older essays any errors or omissions can be attributed to the editorial staff rather than the author. Finally, you will find some overlap in the material presented as different authors approach schools of thought from different perspectives or with a different emphasis.

10 This overlap is intentional so that debaters get a fuller sense of how members of the community think about a given theory or school of thought. For more information about Victory Briefs, the Victory Briefs Institute, or Victory Briefs publishing, please visit Enjoy! 2. Part I: Moral Theory Methods of Moral Argument By Eric Beerbohm This essay first discusses the relationship between moral intuitions and moral theory. Next it describes the Coherence Method of moral reasoning and discusses debate positions which invoke the idea of moral relativism. Finally, the article demonstrates eleven different argumentative strategies in moral theory. What makes a good argument for a normative conclusion? By normative I mean something that we should do, not merely what we have done or are doing. Lincoln-Douglas debate is argument about normative, Value -driven questions.