CHAPTER VTERMS AND ISSUES
In getting ready, one of the most important steps is for you andyour opponentsto get together and talk over the question and agree beforehand on just what it covers and what it does not cover. You wish to avoid all confusion on these points, or at least you should wish to. Some men—and boys—think it smart to leave the question uncertain and indefinite so that—as they mistakenly suppose—they may increase their own chances of success. They feel that if they can only have a wide enough range in the discussion some of their arguments will probably hit the point and win their case for them. Too many times, however, the point at which they are aiming is the decision of the judges and not the logical and irresistible culmination of the argument.
The difference is like that between shooting with a shot gun and a rifle. In the first case if only your shot scatter enough you may bring down your game. In the second case, ifyour aim is true, you are sure to score a hit. The first case calls for a sense of general direction and not much more; thesecond calls for precision, accuracy, and its result should be inevitable.
An Understanding With Your Opponents.—By thus coming to an understanding with your opponents you will avoid confusion; you will reduce the proposition to its simplest terms, and you can narrow your own argument to a few clearly defined channels. You will, however, do much more than that: you will make the contest worth while by a manly agreement which will avoid any attempt to obscure the real question. You might be able so to becloud your opponents that you could possibly fool them as to your real essential points and so prevent an adequate reply. If you should succeed in so doing, although you might be able to “put it over” on your opponents and the judges of the debate, you would not be fair. Experienced judges, however, would probably detect your purpose and penalize you for it.
Not only is this determination of the essence of a question absolutely necessary in preparing for a debate; it prepares you for even more vital work in later life. Remember what we have said all along, that the real value of effective debating is its education for the unconscious exercise in later life of the mental habits thus acquired. So when in later life if you and those with whom you differ get together and talk over thetermsof a question before you allow yourselves to debate thesubstanceof thatquestion, you will frequently find there is no question left for discussion. As you define this and that term, you will come nearer and nearer together. More times than not, you will find that you have so much in common, that you have nothing between you for disagreement. The question will always be simplified; many times it will disappear altogether.
If, however, someone should urge that you may be losing some of the educative value of debate by thus avoiding such subtleties and trickeries as I have just been condemning, let me remind you again, that the real value of agreement, whether in the debating club or in later and more real life, is not injust winningbut in determining justwhat should be done. Your purpose to arrive at a correct course of action will be strengthened, not weakened, by clearing away the unnecessary and non-essential points at the beginning.
Remember, moreover, that to harmonize differences is as good mental training as to accentuate them; to eliminate them, as to crystallize them. To think constructively is a vastly more valuable mental habit than to think negatively. When you and your opponents think alike, whether in debate or real life, when you agree upon a certain part of the question between you, you have cleared the way for at least that much of constructive thought. Finally, such agreement is necessary to coöperation, and coöperation is absolutely essential to any action whether itis a trip to Mount Washington, a campaign against Philip of Macedon, or the carrying out of a certain policy toward the Philippines. We must work together or not at all. Some may pull at the load, some may push, but the load must go in one direction. To get the load anywhere you must have a common purpose; this simplification of the question will help you to find it. In debate, after the question has been defined and limited, you must present your arguments so clearly and conclusively that your opponent as well as your judges will agree that your course is wise and will be ready to follow the line of action that your conclusion calls for. Otherwise your opponents, if they be equally honest and efficient, in mind and method, have the right to demand the same surrender from you.
So, as the first step in your debate, get together, bar out the matter decided upon as outside of your debate, and settle the issues clearly. By the way, that step is the first in a law suit; when the issues are clearly defined, the actual trial takes very little time. A law suit is just one form of debate, and your debate must have its issues settled as clearly. In the Philippine question referred to on page 22 you would select some one of the four possible subjects and you would state it something like this, “Resolved: that the United States should grant the Philippines immediate independence;” now your issue is stated.
Don’t Try to Do It All Alone.—Before you begin your own personal work of preparation, you and your colleagues must meet and apportion the work among yourselves. Do not think you must cover all the ground yourself, unless of course, you are alone in the debate. No matter how many associates you have, however, you must have a broad general view of the whole subject but each one on your side must select some particular part of the subject which he alone will present.
Origin of the Question.—After these preliminaries are thus arranged and you start your own work, first analyze your question and find its starting point, which in any argument lies in the real or alleged existence of a human need. Certain evils are said to exist. The first step is to prove or disprove the existence of these evils. If they are shown to be facts, the next question and the first step in the argument is to show that a certain remedy will remove the evils.
Let us assume that the general question of conservation is prominent in the thought of your patrol, if you are a Scout, and you have decided to discuss it in your debates. Your scout life has kept you so much in the open and scoutcraft has so much to do with forestry, that the whole subject is of interest to you. Besides you realize that it is a question which really affects many public interests, and that its correct solution means a great deal to the wholecountry. You will first decide what branch of that subject you will consider. When you have decided to consider the conservation of forests alone, for example, you have at once removed a good deal which would otherwise have rendered your load heavy; you need not consider water power or coal fields or minerals of any kind and a host of such matters which under the general topic would have had an equal claim for attention.
Now that you have limited your question to forests, you first inquire what is really meant by conservation, why forests should be “conserved,” why should they be protected? Is there an evil which this form of conservation will remove? This is the starting point of your argument, for unless some one is complaining, or ought to complain, there is no need of discussing the matter at all. You will therefore first find out if anyone is complaining of evils growing out of the government’s policy towards its forests, or, if people are not complaining particularly, will the policy now enforced be likely to produce conditions which will work hardships and produce complaints? On the other hand, will these results happen if the present policy of the government is not followed? You see your argument must start somewhere and this starting point is found in some need which should be remedied. This is a process very similar to the work you accomplished when you were going over matters with your opponents.But it goes more into detail and it is concerned only with the question as it has finally been decided upon. It is equally necessary, however, and you cannot be too careful at this point if you would have the debate a thing of beautiful logic.
Definition of Terms.—After you have fixed and stated your starting point, you next define all doubtful terms. In a sense you thus mark out the channels for your debate, for your argument will flow steadily and unhampered if in the beginning you clear away any débris of misunderstood expressions or doubtful words. For example, if the form of your question is, “Resolved: that the present policy of the United States government toward forest conservation should be strengthened,” you would first define forests, then conservation, then the policy of the United States toward it, and finally what you mean by “strengthened.” Unless you define “forests,” for example, you may talk and think of a white pine forest in Idaho, your opponent may have in mind some cut over forests in Maine and their reforestration, and your audience and judges have still other tracts in mind. You may think it makes no difference what kind of forest is meant, what particular tracts of timber are understood. If so, all right; only say so in your definition. Make it clear just what you are talking about, an Idaho or Maine or North Carolina forest or all forests generally. Your definition of “conservation” will next follow,then your definition of the policy of the government toward it. This will be found by considering the actual laws governing forests and forest land and their enforcement and interpretation by the officials of the government administering those laws. Finally you will explain and define what you mean by “strengthen.” You see all such terms clearly defined are a long step ahead in your argument and, indeed, will often constitute the major part of the argument.