Social Choice Session 20

1. Social Choice Session 20 Carmen Pasca and John Hey

2. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • Cambridge Union Style Debates • "This House Believes that Italy should adopt the US Constitution". • We will be looking for volunteers to speak for and against this motion • The structure of the debate • What is debating? • Debating is about examining ideas and policies and persuading people within an organized structure. It allows us to consider the world around us by thinking about different argument , engaging with opposing views and speaking strategically.

3. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • What are the different parts of debating? • The main parts are: • Content: What we say and the arguments and examples we use. • Style: How we say it and the language and voice we use. • Strategy: How well we engage with the topic, respond to other people’s arguments and structure what we say. • How do you debate? • In every debate there is the motion: a statement, idea or policy that is disputed.

4. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • Usually, the motion is either a policy which changes the status quo or a statement whose truth or falsehood is examined in the debate. • There are two sides in the debate, those for the Motion and those against. • Through considering the content, style and strategies of speeches, the audience evaluates the different speakers and decided who was persuaded them the most.

5. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • How is the debate structured? • There are many different formats of debate, each with their own rules. One format we use in competitive debating is called a Cambridge Union Debate as it resembles a debate in the Cambridge Union (essentially the Students Union of the University of Cambridge). • Remember, that it is one of many different debating formats. Learning the rules doesn’t teach you how to play it well.

6. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • The rules of a Cambridge Union Debate • In a Cambridge Union debate, there are two teams of three speakers. There is a Motion, a proposal. • One of the teams speaks for the motion and one against. The speeches alternate between two teams. • Both teams are trying to win the debate. • Hence, speakers within the same team cooperate but not with the teams on the other side; insisted they try to out-maneuver each other.

7. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • The opener for the Motion • He or she presents the case for the motion. First he must produce a definition: the policy or the interpretation of the motion. The definition should be relevant to the motion and should not attempt to restrict or shift it to another debate. • They must then present arguments in the favor of the motion. The second government speaker must also rebut the opening opposition and explain why their arguments are wrong or irrelevant.

8. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • The opener against the Motion • He or she presents the case against the Motion. To do this, he must rebut the opener for the Motion and presents counter-arguments. They can choose to defend the status quo or present a counter proposal. • The Closing Speakers for and against the Motion • Both teams must try to move the debate on (in order to win as an outright team) but must not contradict the opening team in their side. In particular, the closing speakers cannot change the definition.

9. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • To move the debate on, the present new analysis of the debate either from a different viewpoint or by extending the arguments already made. • The third speaker presents this extension or new material as well as compressive rebuttal or all previous speakers on the opposite side. • The last speeches on both sides are summary speeches: the summaries the debate and the clash between teams from a biased perspective in order to explain why their side has won the debate.

10. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • Points of Information • During speeches, speakers on the opposing sidemay offer short, quick points of rebuttal to the speakers know as “points of information”. The “Speaker” judges whether these are genuinely points of order. • Examples: “On a point of information; on that point”. • Adjudication

11. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • After the debate is finished, questions from the floor are invited. Then a vote is taken on the Motion. • Frequently Asked Questions • “Why do the teams try to win the debate outright?” • This is because issues often have more than one perspective through which we can analyse them and many different groups of people can be affected. • Allows through this style of debating, different perspectives to emerge by generating competition between these views. • “When debaters speak, how can I believe what they say?”

12. Session 20: A Cambridge Union type debate • Ultimately, whether or a not a debater believes what they say, it should not impact on how persuaded you are by their arguments and ideas . • “What else is there to learn?” • Learning the rules of any game. Our workshops could teach you how to develop the content, style and strategy to think about issues logically and persuades audiences.