Difference between revisions of "Topicality"

'''Comes before 1AR theory''' – T outweighs on scope (scope is ''how much'' something is affected) because your choice to be non-topical affected every speech after the 1AC.

== Common Topicality Shells ==

=== Nebel Topicality ===

Nebel topicality, or "Nebel-T" is named after Jake Nebel. It makes the claim that grammatically, it is illogical for affirmatives to defend subsets of certain nouns.  

==== Bare Plurals ====

A ''plural'' is more than one. For a plural to be a bare plural, it lacks a determiner. A ''determiner'' is what determines the quantity of something. This can also be known as a ''quantifier''. An example of a determiner would be “one,” “two,” “some,” “all,” etc. Thus, the phrase “seven cats” would not be a bare plural because it has a determiner, while the phrase “cats” would be a bare plural because it has no determiner.

For some topics, whether something has a determiner is unclear. Saying “In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory” could refer to [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/a a singular democracy] or [http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/determiners/determiners.htm a general category of democracy]. In these debates, you’ll want to provide definitions proving that the word in question (like “a”) is or is not a determiner.  

===== Generic vs Existential =====

In topicality, there are two types of bare plurals: generic and existential.

An ''existential bare plural'' refers to the existence of some of a noun – it can be affirmed even by the smallest of the number; all that needs to be proven true is for it to have more than one. For example, if I say “cats are on my table” it means that there is more than one cat on the table. Two cats, three cats, four cats, or more than one cat would all prove the statement true. Existential bare plurals have lower thresholds for what is true. Unlike generic bare plurals, existential bare plurals refer to specific things.

===== Determining the Difference =====

What is the difference between a generic bare plural and an existential bare plural?

Second, you need to check if there is a determiner. To determine if something is generic, there are two tests: the upward entailment test and the adverb test.

Generic bare plurals are '''not''' upward entailing, while existential bare plurals are. If something is upward entailing, the statement will remain true if we replace the subject with a more inclusive term.

In debate, take the resolution “Resolved: States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.” If the affirmative defended a plan aff that said “Resolved: The United States ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals,” replacing “The United States” with “States” would not yield the same truth statement. The aff may prove it true that the U.S. should eliminate their nuclear arsenals, but that is not the same as proving that states ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals because you could conceive of states that should keep their nukes even if the U.S. gets rid of theirs. Thus, “States” is a generic bare plural and proving a subset of states (i.e., the U.S.) should get rid of their nukes does not prove the resolution and is non-topical.

The adverb test tests whether we can insert an adverb of quantification with little to no change of meaning. Generic bare plurals will “pass” this test – when you insert an adverb of quantification, their meanings will not change significantly unlike existential bare plurals. This is typically done by adding the word “usually.”

In debate, saying “Resolved: States '''usually''' ought to eliminate their nuclear arsenals” does not substantially alter the meaning of the resolution. Perhaps there could be exceptions to this statement, like a specific instance where states should not eliminate their nuclear weapons, but we have proved earlier those exceptions do not disprove that a statement is generic (see ''generic bare plural'' under [[Topicality#Common Topicality Shells#Nebel Topicality#Generic vs Existential|Generic vs Existential]]).  

=== Extra Topicality ===

=== Effects Topicality ===