Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Universalism In Policy Debate: Utilitarianism, Stock Issues, And The Rhetorical Audience, William D. Harpine

Speaker & Gavel

The purpose of this essay is to look beyond the current formulations of stock issues. The idea is to make use of the insights from previous theories and accounts of stock issues to create a theory of analysis that is better grounded and that therefore offers a more reasonable way to conduct argumentative analysis. The essay shows how utilitarian theory parallels the concept behind stock issues analysis, proposes the importance of ethics for argumentative analysis, differentiates approaches to utilitarianism, and concludes by examining the implications of utilitarianism for argumentation.