By the Equality in Forensics Contributor Team
Kritiks or Ks are arguments that “kritique” or question the underlying assumptions that teams make. Ks are about ethics and were proliferated used teams in policy debate and LD to challenge teams for the epistemology or assumptions they choose to represent. They see some use in PF debate.
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Before we can talk about Kritiks, there are some definitions and variations of Ks that need to be covered. “Epistemology” is the study of knowledge. In debate, epistemology comes down to which team best understands how the world actually works.
ex) K teams who critique capitalism may point out that we are socially conditioned to believe that capitalism is inevitable and ignore evidence to the contrary because of people who have a vested interest in making us believe in capitalism.
<aside> <img src="/icons/star-outline_red.svg" alt="/icons/star-outline_red.svg" width="40px" /> Ks are often based on extremely dense literature, so it is best to prepare responses to the general thesis of the K beforehand.
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Ks need a link to be relevant to the round. The link can be topical by linking to an “assumption” made by debating the resolution, or the link can be to the opponent (non topical) by targeting something they said or did.
You can read more about topicality here.
There are three main “categories” of Ks that you will hear: Stock, Identity, and Post Modern.
These are relatively easy to understand and are the most commonly read. These common Ks can reject certain language teams use or ideologies they inherently advocate for by affirming the resolution.
ex) language: using the phrase “first strike” in a nuclear argument suggests that it is a winnable competition and the phrase “nuclear exchange” creates a positive connotation to nuke war