Big Questions Debate · Intermediate
One yearlong philosophical resolution, two debaters, and the discipline to argue premises like a philosopher and evidence like a scientist.
5–8 min lessons
What Big Questions Is
Big Questions Debate (BQ) is an NSDA event where two debaters argue a single resolution that lasts the whole season, blending philosophy, science, ethics, and religion. This unit maps the speech order, times, and the unusual demand of debating the same question for months.
Premises, Conclusions, and Validity
Now that you know how a BQ round runs, this unit builds the atomic unit of every argument you will make: the syllogism, with its premises and conclusion, and the crucial difference between an argument being valid and being sound.
Research Across Disciplines
You can now dissect any argument into premises and test its soundness; this unit turns that skill outward, teaching you to research the philosophy papers and scientific literature that will supply your premises and evidence.
Building the Affirmative Case
With research skills and logical tools in hand, you will now assemble them into a complete Affirmative case: framing the resolution, meeting your burdens, and structuring contentions that a judge can follow and vote on.
Building the Negative Case and Burden of Proof
Having built an Affirmative case, you now flip perspective: constructing a Negative case that can either defend a counter-thesis or exploit weaknesses in the Affirmative's burden of proof, and understanding exactly how much the Negative must prove.
Delivery for a Non-Expert Judge
You now have complete Affirmative and Negative cases; this unit ensures those sophisticated arguments actually land, teaching you to deliver dense philosophical material in plain, memorable language for a lay judge.
Cross-Examination
Building on your ability to spot hidden premises and speak plainly, this unit trains cross-examination specifically: asking questions that expose hidden premises and equivocation, and answering questions without conceding ground you don't need to.
Refutation, Fallacies, and Weighing Frameworks
You can now question and answer under pressure; this unit adds systematic refutation, a catalog of common logical fallacies to name in-round, and the skill of weighing an empirical framework against a purely philosophical one when they collide.
Full-Round Strategy
With refutation, fallacies, and weighing under your belt, this unit assembles a complete in-round strategy: choosing which arguments to collapse to, crystallizing the round in summary and final focus, and managing your limited speech and prep time.
Tournament Readiness
You now have a complete BQ skill set — case construction for both sides, delivery, cross-examination, refutation, and full-round strategy; this final unit turns those skills into a season-long topic file, judge adaptation habits, a pre-round routine, and outround awareness so you walk into any tournament ready.