Lincoln-Douglas Debate has evolved a great deal, but at its core it is still value debate. Since the early 1990s, Victory Briefs has sold Value and Criterion handbooks composed of thoughtful essays from accomplished debaters and coaches on various philosophical concepts relevant to LD. For this book we culled through each volume in the series, selecting and updating essays that are most relevant for today’s LD Debater. We also added a great deal of new material to ensure that we continue to provide resources on the cutting edge and to supplement the material that has helped generations of LD Debaters navigate their way through the world of moral and political theory.

Two principles have guided the process of bringing you this updated version of the Value and Criterion handbook. First, we place a great deal of emphasis on debate applicability. Our hope is not only that readers will gain a deeper understanding of the philosophical concepts commonly deployed in LD Debate, but also that they will be able to utilize that knowledge in constructing case positions, writing blocks and frontlines, and engaging opposing positions. For that reason, you will see debate applicability emphasized throughout the text.

Second, we hope that this book will be a jumping-off point for further exploration and research of these important and compelling schools of thought. No essay in this handbook is a comprehensive guide to its subject matter. While you will be able to deploy many of the concepts you learn right away, we also hope to give you the resources to dig deeper into topic areas that interest you and to navigate philosophical writing with more confidence and understanding. In other words, this book provides you with the foundation to engage value debate in a way that is not only philosophically competent but also innovative.

The material in this volume is designed to provide useful information to all debaters regardless of their experience or debate style. As with any collection of opinions from a community of debaters, our authors periodically disagree. We believe this represents a great opportunity to think more deeply about a given philosophical issue or how to deploy philosophical insights in a debate round. Ultimately there is more than one way to debate well, and finding the style that is most comfortable for you is important to reaching your maximum potential.