Written by
Released: Filed Under: Stoa Lincoln-Douglas
About "Social Contract"
Social contract theory is to Lincoln-Douglas debaters what the Jones Act is to team-policy debaters: There always seems to be some way to incorporate it into any resolution. Although many debaters are tired of the social contract, it is an extremely useful and, if run correctly, simple idea that effectively communicates the relationship between the government and its constituents.
The idea of the social contract is quite simple. It’s an agreement between the people and their government that consists of a trade. This trade means that the people of the country give up some portion of their natural rights, and in return the government protects them by putting laws into place.
The main tip to running this case is a rhetorical shift. Make sure that you make the affirmative side sound more like the side of justice, security, and human life, because “truth seeking” can seem weak without a link to innocent human lives. The key to persuasion (and this is true in any Lincoln-Douglas debate resolution) is to make your side seem like the emotional—yet reasonable—choice, and to shift the rhetorical debate to make your opponent’s side seem unimportant.
Have fun.
Directions
- Download the document with the button above. Study this release and get to know it well. File and print as necessary to prepare for your upcoming competition.
- This download is exclusively for Monument Members participating in Season 19. Any use outside this membership is a violation of U.S. Copyright Law and violators will be prosecuted.
- As always, double check all claims, warrants, hyperlinks and the current news in case any changes have occurred that will affect your competition.
- Do you have questions about this download? Tap in your comment at the bottom of the page. The author, the site owner, or another member will most likely reply.
Permission & Usage
Click Here for complete information on permissions. All membership content is proprietary intellectual content, so please respect its copyright. Simply put, if you are not a Monument Member, you may not use it or share its content. If one partner of a debate team is a member and the other is not, the one who is a Monument Member must be the controller of the logins, downloads and incorporation of the Monument Membership material. Sharing logins is strictly prohibited.
Would you like to join?
Downloads like these don't grow on trees. They take hard work from experts. But we make it easy and affordable with a membership, and we'd love for you to join us! Fill out the fields below to be included in all that Season 19 has to offer:
Click here for more information.
Micah Chapman is a homeschooler from Keller, TX, who is going into his 7th year of competition. He has participated in all 3 forms of debate, and many various speech events. He has had 1st and 2nd place finishes at various tournaments, and placed 3rd in Parli at NITOC 2016. This last NITOC he received 1st place in Cold Reading.