Generic Argument and Argument Fields

Abstract

Generic arguments, or arguments applied to an entire class or group of opposing arguments, occur frequently in academic debate. Many generic argument positions endure across debate resolutions. Some critics disdain generic arguments while many debaters covet them, but little has been written about the generic argument phenomenon.

This essay draws upon argument field theory to explain generic arguments. Debate resolutions encompass the normative field of public policy decision making and issue fields pertaining to the substance of the resolution (e.g., medical care, freedom of the press). Generic arguments grounded in public policy making endure regardless of the specific resolution. The issue field of a resolution provides the basis for temporal generic arguments. Viewing generic arguments in terms of the argument fields of a debate resolution strengthens the generic argument as a debate concept, brings debate theory and argumentation theory together, and offers a perspective for evaluating generic arguments in academic debate and the real world of public argument.