The Scope of Fiat: A Response to O'Krent by Jacob Nails
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A) A Minimalist Notion of Fiat I. What is Fiat? Many debate resolutions propose ideas which, regardless of their merits, are highly unlikely to be implemented. Few policy analysts would forecast global nuclear disarmament in the near future. Nevertheless, the September-October 2010 topic called for debaters to argue whether it would be desirable. Similarly, the United States is unlikely to join the ICC (Jan-Feb ’09), grant equal due process to terrorists (Sep-Oct ’12), or scale back attorney-client privilege (Nov-Dec ’13). Even the prospects of the few resolutions that have some popularity with Congress are from certain. How can we debate a topic when we have no idea when or if it will ever come to pass? Fiat is the answer. For decades fiat has occupied a central role in competitive debate’s lexicon. When used as a term of debate jargon, fiat refers to the principle that the affirmative need not show that the resolution will in fact happen, only that it would be good if it did. Fiat thus allows the affirmative to bypass questions of whether the resolution is likely to come to fruition. The affirmative only has to show that the resolution would be the right option for us to choose, if we could.
The Scope of Fiat: A Response to O'Krent by Jacob Nails
The Scope of Fiat: A Response to O'Krent by…
The Scope of Fiat: A Response to O'Krent by Jacob Nails
A) A Minimalist Notion of Fiat I. What is Fiat? Many debate resolutions propose ideas which, regardless of their merits, are highly unlikely to be implemented. Few policy analysts would forecast global nuclear disarmament in the near future. Nevertheless, the September-October 2010 topic called for debaters to argue whether it would be desirable. Similarly, the United States is unlikely to join the ICC (Jan-Feb ’09), grant equal due process to terrorists (Sep-Oct ’12), or scale back attorney-client privilege (Nov-Dec ’13). Even the prospects of the few resolutions that have some popularity with Congress are from certain. How can we debate a topic when we have no idea when or if it will ever come to pass? Fiat is the answer. For decades fiat has occupied a central role in competitive debate’s lexicon. When used as a term of debate jargon, fiat refers to the principle that the affirmative need not show that the resolution will in fact happen, only that it would be good if it did. Fiat thus allows the affirmative to bypass questions of whether the resolution is likely to come to fruition. The affirmative only has to show that the resolution would be the right option for us to choose, if we could.