NCFCA Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Human Dignity (NEG)

Resolved: In the context of innovation, the proactionary principle ought to be valued above the precautionary principle.

Lord Acton said that “Few discoveries are more irritating than those which expose the pedigree of ideas.”[1] Those discoveries certainly are irritating, but they are important, and they can be especially helpful for debaters. This case exposes the “pedigree” of the proactionary principle, and argues that when we understand where the proactionary principle comes from and what it is, the proactionary principle violates human dignity.

[1] Lord Acton, “Review of Sir Erskine May’s Democracy in Europe” [1878], reprinted in The History of Freedom and Other Essays, quoted in F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents, The Definitive Edition, 1944, 2007. Ed. Bruce Caldwell. University of Chicago Press. Print. Page 57.