This blog talks about common ways of analyzing a given topic, could be a motion, a proposal, a given topic, etc.
These are the things I learnt from others, and my experiences in debate.
Before You Read
The ideas in this blog may not be suitable to you. They may contain misinformation. They may not work in certain situations. Please critically read this blog.
Before you come to the main part of the blog, it is recommended that you read these two blogs for better understanding.
Common Perspectives of Analysis
We will use the motion “This House Would ban smoking on campus” as an example.
Virtue
When using virtue ethics, we think about whether it is virtue to do something.
Is it virtue to smoke? Smoking alone could be, but smoking in front of non-smokers may not be, as it harms the other person’s health. We could ban smoking if it is not virtue, or ban it under certain situations where it is not virtue for people to smoke.
Rights
When using rights ethics, we are thinking about whether certain actions would insult or protect certain stakeholders’ rights. We can also think about whether we as the government/opposition, or some other stakeholders themselves have the right to do something. Anything related to rights can be mentioned.
Is it a person’s right to smoke? If that person is an adult, then it is. If that person is not an adult, then probably it is not. This includes “passive smoking“, meaning that non-adults may inhale others’ smoke, which may not be legal (differs across regions) for both of them. Some public areas also have extra policies to protect minors’ rights and health. If it protects people’s rights rather than harming them, banning smoking could be plausible.
Roles
When using roles ethics, we are thinking what the role of certain subject carries. For example, the government’s role is to provide its people with the best living conditions, and if a motion or a proposal aligns with that goal/role, government can do it.
This motion can be debated under both college/university campus scope and society scope. What is the role of colleges/universities? What is the role of the society? One of their main goals/roles is to provide the best living conditions for people, for colleges/universities, it is the students, faculty, and staffs, etc., for society, it’s its people.
What is the best condition? Potentially we are going to think it as everyone has the best life possible, meaning that no one harms the other people’s rights, no one disrespects any other person under any circumstances.
Banning smoking may align with the goal of them, which makes it part of their incentives.
Results
When using results ethics, we think of the ultimate result of certain motions or actions. Does this move lead to a good result? Is the result beneficial? Will the result be detrimental? Can the result, or how can the result be reached?
Is the result good? Does banning smoking make people feel happier and healthier, then why not do it? Or does it make some people discontented and we shouldn’t do so? If the result is good, or if the benefit it brings weighs over the harm it causes, banning can also be plausible.
Choosing The Suitable Ethics
To find the most suitable approaches to analyze or to better construct your idea, you may need to find the root problem the give motion/topic is focusing on.
Analyzing The Status Quo
What is going on? Under what circumstances do we bring up the motion? Why are we talking about the topic?
Still, we are going to use THW ban smoking as an example.
We may see the root problem from our daily lives. A lot of people are smoking in the restrooms of the teaching buildings in universities, making a lot of people unable to use them. There are also people smoking in the car, forcing others to passively inhale the smokes. These are the problems behind the motions that we are trying to solve. These actions of smoking hurt other people’s rights of freely choosing not to smoke, and that we can use rights ethics to construct our arguments.
Enhancing Your Arguments
To make our arguments stronger, assuming that we are on the government side, we may argue that the group of people we are protecting includes vulnerable groups, for example, people who are allergic to nicotine, or people who is carrying a baby.
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