Lincoln-Douglas Debate

1. Lincoln-Douglas Debate Justice Social Contract Categorical Imperative Utilitarianism

2. Value & Criterion • Value • A value is an idea that a debater argues is paramount.  • The contentions in an Lincoln-Douglas case uphold the value.  • Generally, the debater will present philosophical background to support and explain their value. • Criterion: • A criterion is a necessary or sufficient standard by which to measure the competing values.  • It is a conceptual tool used to decide which value should be upheld. 

3. Common Values • Justice* • Social Contract* • Categorical Imperative* • Deontology • Utilitarianism* • Equality http://debate-central.ncpa.org/common-ld-values/

4. Must be wary of definitions!!! Freedom: What does it mean? • Freedom: Self-Determination; the ability of an agent to act or not act according to ones preferences • Plato’s Freedom: Obeying reason rather than being a servant to passions; the subordination of man’s will to reason

5. Justice • Fairness • Rules Fair? Results Fair? • Equitableness • Correct Treatment • Embodiment of the virtues of a society • Harmony between ones rights and the rights of others

6. Social Contract • In the beginning… • Man lived in a state of nature with no government or law to regulate them • Due to hardships & oppression, agreements arose • Agree to respect each other & live in peace • Agree to obey an authority, thus surrendering wholly, or in part, freedom (Government’s job is to guarantee everyone’s life, property and some liberties)

7. Thomas Hobbes’ Social Contract: • In state of nature life was filled with fear and selfishness (Chaos) • People desired security and order, thus Man entered into a ‘contract’ with some authority • Rights and freedoms surrendered • Ruler will be absolute head • Ruler has obligations to preserve order

8. John Locke’s Social Contract: • State of Nature is different than Hobbes • Reasonable and good life (a Golden Age?) • Problem: property not secure • People possessed all the liberties Nature could give • Property is the key to Locke’s idea • Private Property is when one mixes labor with raw materials of nature • Locke believed people should not take more than their fair share because nature is given to Man for common subsistence (use)

9. Private Property not secure in state of nature because: • No Law • No Impartial Judge to oversee disagreements • No power to execute the natural laws • Thus, a Social Contract is agreed upon to secure Private Property • People surrender only some of their power/freedoms • Purpose of power is to preserve order & enforce Natural Laws • Individuals retain various rights for themselves • Life, Liberty, health, property • “Right” to rebel

10. Rousseau’s Social Contract: • State of Nature was happy & there was equality among Men • As populations increased change occurred • People living closer together • Division of labor introduced • Inventions gave rise to leisure time • Invented private property • As a result of the above, public values emerged • Shame, Envy, Greed, Pride, Competition, Vanity, Inequality, etc • Thus Man fell from grace (so to speak)

11. Social Contract manifests, according to Rousseau, in the form of the “General Will” • General Will is the state that is formed to guarantee rights, liberties, freedoms, and equality • Embodied the will of the majority of citizens to which blind obedience is given • Each individual is subject to this General Willrather than any other individual • To obey the General Will is to obey oneself

12. MORALITY You know that Christina wants to kill your friend Mariah, who you have just left sitting at a table. Christina comes up to you and asks you where Mariah is. If you tell her the truth, Christina will find Mariah and kill her. If you lie and tell her that you saw Mariah leaving five minutes ago, Christina will be thrown off the scent, allowing Mariah to get away. What should you do? Tell the truth… or lie?

13. Categorical Imperative (Kant) • An action is morally permissible only if it accords with a rule that you can consistently and universally apply to yourself and others • Consequences do not matter • Morality is an end, not a means • A moral law is unconditional or absolute for all agents, the validity or claim of which does not depend on any ulterior motive or end

14. Lying is immoral… why? • If everyone lied all the time, no one would believe anyone, thus lying is self defeating • Thus, truth-telling is the moral right rather than lying • Moral right must be followed regardless of consequences “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.”

15. An airliner carrying 120 passengers is hurtling out of control towards a densely populated area. There is no time to evacuate the area and the impact of the plane is certain to kill thousands. The only possible move is to shoot down the plane. Should you do it?

16. Utilitarianism (Bentham & JSMill) • Theory based on Consequentialism • Right and wrong are based upon the extent in which they increase or decrease human well-being or ‘utility’ • “Greatest happiness for the greatest number”