First Principles Cheat Sheet

Made by Jen Taruno. Property of disputandum.com.

According to Tim Sonnreich’s First Principles guide, First Principles have two key elements:
(1) A good understanding of the principles of logic (i.e knowing how to show that an argument is logically flawed
without knowing any facts about the issue).
(2) A good understanding of the key concepts that form the fundamental “clash” in the debate

The second element is what we want to focus on in this cheat sheet. This is a very simplified compilation of many
debating workshops on the Internet, with some personal modifications. That means this is non-exhaustive, and
might or might not suit your style. If you want to know more, check the References section at the bottom of the
document.

The way you want to use this is:

● Find the heading (theme) of the motion you’re debating in. If it’s a mix of multiple headings, look at the
cheat sheet for all headings
● Use the Common Clashes to form arguments and clashes
● Ask the questions in the relevant sections during casebuild

Art and Culture

COMMON CLASHES: Experiential Value, Aesthetic Value, Cognitive Value/Ideas, Accessibility of Art
Consumers of Art, Artists, Social Movements
Access, Talent Development, Fair Competition, Societal Benefits, State Benefits
Athletes, Fans, Sports Clubs, States

Purpose of art
● Experience it provides to the
viewer (expressing emotions)
● Aesthetic qualities
● Cognitives values; ideas
behind it (e.g. politics,
environment criticism)
Art x Social Movements Must ask for art debates
● How does it affect the way ● Who owns the art?
people form values? ● How do people interpret it?
● How does it influence people’s ● How does that affect
behaviour? discourse?
● What makes art an exclusive
medium?
● Why is art important for the
artist?

Purpose of sports for athletes Purpose of sports for society

● Talent development ● Entertainment
● Fair competition ● National pride
● Valuable job ● Unity of communities
● Health benefits
Choice and Philosophy
COMMON CLASHES: Moral Legitimacy, Utilitarianism, Choice Rationality
Access, Quality, Discourse/Check and Balance
Emotional, Cognitive, Moral, Social Impacts
Individual Impacts, Communal Impacts
Debates that limit/extend choices
● Do you maximise choices?
● Is the choice well-informed?
● Are people forced to choose a
certain option?
● Were people forced to need
that choice? E.g. necessity of
sweatshops because of
insufficient poverty alleviation
● Does the choice lead to good
impacts?
Is something morally legitimate?
● Is it important to consider
human agency?
● Is it important to consider
special relations of actors?
● Does it devalue meaning? E.g.
is being happy from swallowing a
pill meaningful?
● Can it be justified for a greater
good?
Economy
Is a choice rational?
● Pros and cons?
● Short term vs long term
impacts?
● Is it a coerced choice?
● Is the choice objective or
biased?
● Does it neglect harm?
When can you hold someone
responsible?
● Were they the cause of harm?
● Were they negligent and did
they allow the harm?
● Did they benefit from it?
● Do they have special relations
that make them responsible?
● Are they the only ones who
can be held responsible?
When do you have a right?
● Do you own it? Did you earn it
justly?
● Are you capable of consenting
to and exercising the right?
● Is the exercise of the right
meaningful, not harmful?
● Is your moral position superior
to other actors?
Must-ask for Regrets/Narrative
debates
● How do people interpret the
narrative?
● Who makes and spreads the
narrative?
● How does this impact
expectations? To what value is
the narrative tied? What
trade-offs are made for it?
● What other narratives
empower/mitigate this
narrative?
● What does the world look like
without this narrative?
● Does this exclude an
important/significant group of
people?
● Are there policies/reactions
that come from this narrative?
COMMON CLASHES: Economic Growth, Economic Equality, Crisis/Stability
Accessibility of Goods, Quality of Goods, Innovation, Fair Competition, Exploitation
Consumers, Companies, Investors, Workers, Labour Unions, States, International Economic Institutions

Characterising consumers Characterising companies Characterising states

● How much purchasing power
do they have?
● How much confidence do they
have in the economy?
● What influences them to
buy/save?
● How big is the company?
● Does it provide primary needs
or secondary/tertiary needs?
● What are its sources of
investment? Is it private or
public?
● How do people in its hierarchy
think?
● What are the risks and
opportunities?
● Is it a developing or developed
state?
● How much money does the
state have? Is it well
distributed?
● What does its budget
allocation look like?
● Which sector earns most?
● What is the concentration of
labour?

Characterising international
traders and institutions
● What are its goals?
● What are its sources of
money?
● What are its strong and weak
points?
● Past precedents?
Market failures and interventions State failures and interventions
● Is there an industry ● Is it better to have more
domination? E.g. a company, regulation or less regulation?
sector, or private vs public ● Is the government budget
● Are people buying a lot? Does misallocated?
inflation/deflation happen? ● Is it better to have a fiscal or
● Do people make well-informed monetary response?
choices?
● Do people overlook external
effects? E.g. environment,
education

Education and Family

COMMON CLASHES: Accessibility of Education, Quality of Classes, Social Environment, Future Applicability
Cognitive, Moral, Emotional, Social Development, Parent-Child Relationship
States, Schools, Parents, Children

Actor segmentation Actors’ decision making Education at large

● Who are the actors in the
debate?
● Are there important
segmentations of the actors?
E.g. conservative/liberal parents,
driven/undriven children
● Who are the most vulnerable
actors?
● What information are they
influenced by?
● What are their interests?
● What’s their ability to get their
interests?
● What are they likely to do and
will it succeed?
● Do class, race or identity
differences matter?
● How do parents interact with
education?
● How does education influence
people’s values?
Environment and Health

COMMON CLASHES: Solvency, Morality, Environment/Animal Rights/Health vs X (e.g. economy, culture)

Society, Social Movements, Companies, States, International Institutions, Animals

Analysing policies Evaluating harm

● Is it sustainable?
● Does it consider
interconnectedness and
communal responsibility?
● Are the right actors held
responsible?
● Are the most damaged helped?
● Does it encourage better
choices?
● Does an actor make the
biggest/most direct impact?
● Did they calculate the harm?
● Did they try to minimise the
harms?
● Can they justify the harm is for
something more important?

Feminism

COMMON CLASHES: Protection, Equal Representation/Intersectionality, Exposure of Values, Participation,

Catharsis
Feminist Movement, Oppressed, Oppressors, In-group, Out-group, States

Must ask Four waves of feminism

● What is the goal of the ● Suffrage
feminist movement here? ● Job equality, domestic equality
● What is the current social ● Intersectionality and
acceptance? Are people aware self-actualisation
of feminism? Are they in the ● Criticising power structures,
1st-4th wave of feminism? combating harassment
● Who are the activists and how
do they think?
● Which spectrum of followers
do you touch? E.g. Conservative
/ liberal? Young / old?

International Relations

COMMON CLASHES: Economy, Security, Geopolitics

States, Allied States, Adversarial States, Citizens, International Organisations

Analysing states Analysing states’ behaviours Analysing conflicts

● What is its national interest? ● What is the scope of the
 ● Who is its leader and who else
holds a lot of power?
● What do its voters support?
● How does it make its citizens
trust it? (religion, money, etc)
● What is its power? (economic,
military, etc)
● Who are its allies and
adversaries?
● How much power does it have
to achieve its goal?
● How is its action going to be
interpreted?
● How did it behave in the past?
● Is anything in its way? E.g. other
states, int’l organisations, need
of trade, int’l norms
conflict?
● What are the involved states’
interests?
● Who are the adversaries and
allies of these countries?
● What are the latest
developments of the conflict?

Analysing international Research guides

organisations
● What is its goal?
● What is the main problem that
threatens its survival?
● Who are its member states?
● Are there blocs in its member
states?
● Which member states are
most influential?
● How do member states
interact with its goal?
● How do people feel about
their own history? What’s
their national identity?
● How do citizens interact with
the state? What is their
relationship built upon?
● What are their ambitions
shaped by?
● What are their current affairs?

Law and Security

COMMON CLASHES: Retribution, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, Victim’s Closure, Trust to Justice System
Justice System, Criminals, Potential Criminals, Victims, Society

Analysing criminal punishments Factors in criminal sentencing Analysing trial process

● Does this punish criminals
justly and proportionately?
● Does this deter criminals from
repeating the crimes?
● Does this give criminals a
chance to reintegrate to
society after punishment?
● Does this punishment confine
the criminal from doing the
crime? E.g. prison = prevent
physical harm, confiscation =
prevent misuse of funds
● Was the crime intended?
● Was the intent purely
malicious?
● What was the impact of the
crime?
● Was there a lack of
understanding that the crime
would cause those impacts?
● Was the crime done under
forced circumstances?
● What kind of evidence is
gathered?
● Are people getting good
lawyers?
● Are the judges objective?
● Are the involved parties under
any duress?

Analysing reparation /
compensation
 ● What’s the past injustice?
● Does it still affect the present?
● Why are people still benefiting
unjustly from it?
● How does the motion give
proportional redress?

Politics

COMMON CLASHES: Equal Representation, Participation, Policymaking, Accountability/Check and Balance,

Trust to System
States, Politicians, Spectrums of voters

Must ask When can we limit democratic Is democracy even legitimate?

● Are people able to voice
themselves out?
● Are authorities being held
accountable?
● Are people participating in
democracy?
● What kind of policies does this
result into?
rights?
● Is it used with evil intention?
● Does it undermine other
people’s democratic rights?
● Is it unfairly targeting a social
group?
● How many things can people
actually consent to?
● Do people have equal power
to vote for things?
● Are the people given voting
rights the people that know
and are affected by issues?
● Are there alternatives to
democracy that can achieve
good outcomes?

Religion

COMMON CLASHES: Sense of Hope/Salvation, Moral Compass, Peace/Tolerance/Security, Gaining

Followers
Religious Institutions, Religious Authorities, Spectrums of Believers, Non-believers, States

Purpose of religion Debates with religion as a subject Debates with religion as an object
● Sense of hope & salvation ● What’s good for the religion? ● What is religion’s influence in
● Moral compass ● Does it encourage good people’s lives?
● Peace, tolerance, security relationship with the Divine? ● What threatens religion’s
● Gaining followers ● Does it encourage good relevance?
relationship among believers?
● Does it encourage good
relationship with
non-believers?

Terrorism debates
 ● What is the organisation’s
goal? (e.g. political inclusion,
caliphate, etc)
● What makes people want to
join? (e.g. money, afterlife,
hatred towards the state)
● How does the relevant religion
react to terrorism?
● What are existing measures to
counterbalance terrorism?

Science and Technology

COMMON CLASHES: Access, Quality, Emotional, Cognitive, Moral, Social Impacts

Individual Impacts, Communal Impacts

Analysing a technology
● Who has access to this
technology?
● Will people make
well-informed choices for it?
● How do people think about it?
● How do people experience the
application of it?
● What are existing alternatives
to achieve the same goal?

Social Movements

COMMON CLASHES: Participation, Policymaking/Protection, Catharsis, Maximisation of Choices, Equality

of Access
Social Movements, Oppressors, Oppressed, In-group, Out-group, States
Must ask
● What is the goal of the
movement here?
● What is the current social
acceptance?
● Who are the activists and how
do they think?
● Which spectrum of followers
do you touch? E.g. Conservative
/ liberal? Young / old?
Is this good for the movement?
● Does this increase
participation in the social
movement?
● Does this result in good
policies?
● Does this provide a cathartic
platform?
● Does this increase choices
people can make?
● Does this ensure equality of
accessing a narrative?
Is participation meaningful?
● Does it increase the
movement’s traction in the
society/government?
● Does it increase awareness for
meaningful issues?
● Does it ensure good check and
balance inside the movement?

References

● Manchester Debating Union Advanced Training Debate Workshop

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hTwC16_LplXQxG4Pbv0T7iOOElYg9ZDmcCOhiJlclh0
● Section 2: First Principles by Tim Sonnreich
https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/learn.stleonards.vic.edu.au/dist/1/223/files/2013/01/FIRST-PRINCIPL
ES-MAD-Training-Handbook-2010.pdf
● SEF ITB Matter Bank
https://dl.orangedox.com/S3QmlQ
● Art and Culture, with Enting Lee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPEsO8lH1A
● “SUPER SHINY PRINCIPLED ARGUMENTS” with Ashish Kumar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5pJ2oomZbM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4SUMqmWlaw
● Stop sucking at principles, with Lucía Arce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIgxr1GzXDU
● Education by Xiao Ke Lu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMjjb5YwuE
● A Brief Look at the Four Waves of Feminism
https://thehumanist.com/commentary/a-brief-look-at-the-four-waves-of-feminism/
● Debating International Relations Motions by Rizqi Isnurhadi
https://propfiat.wordpress.com/2018/06/06/debating-international-relation-motions/
● Islamic terrorism and radicalisation, with Ameera Natasha Moore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugK61au1dV0