What is a Value Premise?
From all these values that arise, your first goal should be to decide on a “value premise.” In some regions, debaters refer to their value premise as a core value, but the term value premise is more generally recognized. A value premise should be the ultimate value that you seek to uphold and/or achieve in the debate round. Examples include things like Justice, Morality, Societal Welfare, Individual Welfare, or Liberty. Some debaters tend to use more obscure values, but sticking to the basics is generally preferable unless you have a specific goal in mind. It is important to remember that your value premise must be a VALUE, and not something else like the Social Contract which is an IDEA but not a value in and of itself. Every argument that you make in a debate round should relate to this value premise. If you cannot show how your side better achieves your value premise, then you (ideally- if you have a good judge) should lose the round. Therefore it is very important to choose a value
