Preparation and Procedures
The statement to be debated is “There should be no limits on the production of CGI pornography and, other than prohibiting distribution to minors, no limits on its distribution.” (Here “CGI pornography” means pornography generated with the aid of computers, with no human actors. You may also assume that the “characters” do not and are not intended to represent any actual people.)
Student 1 and Student 2 will argue in favor of the statement; Student 3 and Student 4 will argue against it.
The debate will be conducted as follows:
In the first round, each team member will have 5 minutes to present the case for their answer.
In the second round, each team member will have 2 minutes to respond to the other team’s argument(s).
Each team member will then have 2 minutes for their closing statement.
Finally, we will then have an open-ended discussion, led by the instructors.
Teams can divide the speaking time unequally in each round and the closing statement (e.g. 7 minutes for one person and 3 minutes for the other in the first round). However, speaking time overall should be divided roughly equally between team members.
First-round presentations should be well prepared in advance. Your second-round comments will depend on what the other team says, which you will not know ahead of time. You should still plan ahead, by preparing responses to things that might be said.
As usual, each team should be quiet and respectful while the other has the floor (no matter how strongly you disagree with what they are saying). Your tone while you speak also should be calm and reasonable. The focus should be on the ideas.
The in-class debate will be held during session 17 and will count for 15% of the course grade.
