Summary

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  • Caselist.RoundClass[2]
  • Caselist.CitesClass[2]

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EntryDate

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1		-2017-01-28 14:53:02.106
	1	+2017-01-28 14:53:02.0

Caselist.CitesClass[2]

Cites

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	1	+The sketch master won’t get away with it this time—their strategy of spikes obfuscation is antithetical to an ethic of intellectual integrity.
	2	+Torson 13
	3	+**BRACKETED FOR GENDERED LANGUAGE
	4	+Torson, Adam, debated at Fargo South High School. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has a J.D. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 2004-2009 he was the director of debate at Hopkins High School (MN), “DEBATE AND THE VIRTUE OF INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY BY ADAM TORSON,” March 24, 2013, http://victorybriefs.com/vbd/2013/3/debate-and-the-virtue-of-intellectual-integrity-by-adam-torson.
	5	+Against Purposeful Obfuscation Too often in debate, strategy devolves into sophistry. Debaters utilize a series of tactics designed only to muddy the water, to obscure a fair evaluation of the merits of their arguments by either judges or opponents. This includes the distortion of evidence, e.g. by reading cards out of context so as to make it seem that authors using terms differently actually intend the same meaning. It includes evasive or overly ambiguous explanations of arguments, designed to allow debaters to shift their positions in the rebuttals. It includes impossibly dense and blippy analytical frameworks with contingent standards, layers of unreasonable spikes, theory bait, and other tricks hidden throughout. These tactics are inconsistent with an ethic of intellectual integrity. The rules that we set up to make the debate game intellectually rigorous are exploited to separate us altogether from a meaningful contest of ideas; the tail wags the dog. A student deploying these tactics hopes to win not because he they marshals the most compelling argument, but because his their opponent makes a superficial error or his judge is too embarrassed to admit that he didn’t properly follow the argument. We hope that the practice of dialectic contestation will help us to challenge or confirm our beliefs on important personal and political questions. Strategies of purposeful obfuscation, on the other hand, turn arguments into mere instruments of power – ways of manipulating the circumstances to contrive a favorable outcome. These strategies are disingenuous approaches to thinking through the topic because they are fundamentally unrelated to the residual quality of the arguments. That bad arguments could reliably beat good ones should strike us as a very strange outcome in any debate event worthy of the name.
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	7	+Intellectual integrity comes first—there is no way any other impact precedes this.
	8	+Torson 13
	9	+Torson, Adam, debated at Fargo South High School. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has a J.D. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 2004-2009 he was the director of debate at Hopkins High School (MN), “DEBATE AND THE VIRTUE OF INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY BY ADAM TORSON,” March 24, 2013, http://victorybriefs.com/vbd/2013/3/debate-and-the-virtue-of-intellectual-integrity-by-adam-torson.
	10	+Intellectual integrity denotes a commitment to the honest pursuit of truth through openness to evidence, ideas, and the criticisms of others. It prohibits the subordination of truth to expediency or personal gain, and requires us to be on guard against self-deception and short-sightedness. It requires a balance between the courage of honest conviction and the humility to recognize that our conclusions must always be uncertain and provisional. Practiced with intellectual integrity, debate can be a powerful vehicle for personal growth. It encourages the self-reflection that helps students to cultivate a mature inner-life. Conscience is little more than an honest internal dialogue – the ability to critically reflect on one’s own thoughts and actions. Openness to opposing beliefs requires appreciating what the world looks like from someone else’s point of view, which in turn fosters humility, perspective, and tolerance. I think that many of us credit debate as a formative experience precisely because it taught us the virtue of intellectual integrity. Intellectual integrity is also indispensable in cultivating a sense of civic virtue. Our public life is plagued by sophistry and mindless line-toeing. Politics is treated like a spectator sport, and we engage only if we are enthralled by the spectacle. Intellectual integrity is a bulwark against citizenship devolving in this way. One with intellectual integrity is willing to be persuaded by reasoned argument rather than held hostage by ideology or tribalism. It requires suspicion of convention and to be more than a mere political dilettante or pseudo-intellectual. Above all, intellectual integrity bars credulous acquiescence to demagogues and mediocre apologists. By careful examination of the challenges we must face together, debate can foster a mature sense of connection to our many communities. We must recognize the burden of stewardship that comes with the opportunity to work with gifted young people. If what I’ve said rings true, then the debate community is obliged to embrace intellectual integrity as one of its core values. We aspire to be a community of thinkers and learners, and this goal is conveyed not simply by what we teach in the classroom but by the practices we deploy. I encourage the examination of those practices through the lens of intellectual integrity.
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	12	+Students need to embrace responsibility—stop trying to avoid it, you know what you did now it’s time to own up to it.
	13	+Torson 13
	14	+Torson, Adam, debated at Fargo South High School. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has a J.D. from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. From 2004-2009 he was the director of debate at Hopkins High School (MN), “DEBATE AND THE VIRTUE OF INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY BY ADAM TORSON,” March 24, 2013, http://victorybriefs.com/vbd/2013/3/debate-and-the-virtue-of-intellectual-integrity-by-adam-torson.
	15	+What We Can Do About It Students I encourage debaters to embrace the responsibility that comes with argumentative agency. Ultimately the person who chooses the arguments you run is you. More than that, you are the authors of the culture. Coaches and judges do what they can to provide incentives to debate in certain ways, but it is ultimately a commitment in the minds of debaters to deploy intellectually sound strategies that creates the norm. The willingness to win at any cost is a bankrupt approach to debate. While it’s great to take pride in your accomplishments, the luster of debate trophies will eventually fade. Choose to make one of your lasting contributions to the community the choice to debate with intellectual integrity. You will value the habits of mind you develop for the rest of your life.

EntryDate

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	1	+2017-01-28 14:53:03.714

Judge

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	1	+Megan Nubel

Opponent

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	1	+Ritvhik Seela

ParentRound

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	1	+2

Round

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	1	+1

Team

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	1	+Christopher Columbus Toro Neg

Title

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	1	+Spikes K

Tournament

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	1	+Emory