The Art of Value Debate

If the realm of values, philosophy, and esoterics leaves you feeling like you’re walking through fog, help is on the way. The Art of Values debate breaks down those tricky concepts and out-there ideas, showing you how to grasp a hold of Values and utilize them in your decision making processes. You will be able to understand the greater context of policies, and pinpoint differences in belief systems- necessary skills that you can use in competitive debate rounds and everyday life.

About the Author:

Matt Pitchford is a voracious reader, an avid writer, and a passionate mentor for value debaters. Matt competed for five years in the National Christian Forensics and Communications association (NCFCA), ranking among the nation’s top values debaters. He has been a value debate coach and has taught argumentation and communication skills to students in political groups, schools, debate clubs, and Communicators for Christ camps and conferences. Matt also has a passion for speaking in his community, and was the 2007 recipient of the Institute for Cultural Communicators highest award, the Raudy Bearden Community Speaking Scholarship. When Matt is not teaching, coaching, or practicing debate, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his fellow Eagle Scouts and discovering the value in everyday living. Matt is, at the time of this writing, attending Willamette University in Oregon.

Table of Contents:

Lesson 1: The Practicality of Values: Practical Debate

Lesson 2: All about Values: Finding and Comparing Values in Conflict

Lesson 3: Philosophy: A Brief History of Thought

Lesson 4: Values in Culture: Applying Philosophy to Everyday Life

Lesson 5: Context: A Fundamental Ingredient to Understanding

Lesson 6: Making Value Discussions Practical: Featuring Criteria, C-Cubed, and Flowing

Lesson 7: Applications and You

Lesson 8: Competitive Conventions: Communicating in Competitive Debate

Lesson 9: Using Value Debate Skills: Evaluating, Comparing, and Applying Values in Our Lives

Book Excerpt:

    “Sometimes going to a movie is an exhausting experience for me. When I was young, I ran upstairs and hid from a particularly stressful scene. Now I notice that sometimes my hands arms get tired from gripping the chair’s arms or a pillow so tightly for so long. Sometimes my thumb gets tired from repeatedly hitting the fast forward button. Beyond the physical aspect of watching a movie, some movies are exhausting simply because of the message they portray.

Have you ever read a book, watched a movie or heard a song that you fundamentally disagreed with? I am willing to bet that h\you have on several occasions. Even if I cannot always articulate the exact reason why a particular work does not suit me, I can trace it back to a difference in values.

Even beyond the realm of entertainment and in culture as a whole, we can observe values. Whether you are at work, at school, or at play, you cannot get away. Rather exciting, isn’t it? When we talk about identifying values, we need to recognize the contexts in which we can see values readily applied or discussed. It is not so much digging for the identification of a value as we just learned, as it is simply observing values. We not only observe the values that other people uphold within the cultural contexts, but we also see them applied to our own life. The fascinating result of a cultural or moral value is its impact on a specific individual.”