Les brown Once said "shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll land in the stars" this quote illustrates why idealism ought to be valued above Pragmatism, because it tries to achieve goals as effectively as possible.
Good afternoon I am Morgan Sipe and I will be the affirmative speaker for this debate round. Good afternoon, my name is Morgan Sipe and I will be the affirmative speaker for this debate round. My value for this round will be progress and for the purpose of upholding my value I stand, resolved that when in conflict idealism ought to be valued above Pragmatism. In this case I will demonstrate how my value of progress dictates that we affirm the resolution.
In order to provide mutual clarity and understanding in this debate round I will define some of the key terms that I will use through out the round. .(Webster’s) Idealism is defined as behavior or thought based on a conception of things as one thinks they should be. Ideals are a conception of things in their most excellent form.Pragmatism is defined (Encarta World dictionary) as a straightforward practical way of thinking about things or dealing with problems, concerned with results rather than with theories and principles.
My value for this round: Progress is defined as an improvement or moving forward as to an objective or goal. Progress must be valued in order for values and goals to be achieved. Idealism allows progress to achieve goals more effectively.
First Contention: Idealism starts a goal so why shouldn't the ideals guide the progress to a goal
As idealism creates a goal it should guide it through the process of achieving that goal because Idealism will stay true to the Ideal and therefore end up with a more complete goal.Say that there is a rich merchant and he outfits a ship to go sailing for gold would the merchant controlling the ship get closer to the gold or would the sailors.The Merchant would,he formed the ideal and because of that he will achieve it better.Idealism achieves goals more completely than pragmatism. Let me again illustrate this point by giving you an analogy. A captain of a ship uses a compass to help him arrive at his chosen destination.If he does not follow the compass 100% of the time,he will end up hundreds of miles off target. Idealism is like a compass that allows us to reach our destination more efficiently. By following ideals we end up closer to our goals. Since Idealism follows goals more faithfully than Pragmatism it more completely fulfills the end goal. This brings me to my second contention.
Second Contention: My second contention is Idealism progresses more completely than Pragmatism and as such Idealism should be valued above Pragmatism.
The purpose of any action is the goal and since ideals are the things that start goals they will complete them more effectively.
Homeschooling is a great example of this; When Parents choose to home school those Parents devote themselves to teaching their children and take on many burdens because of it. They do all of the things they do be they know that the Idealist result will yield a better end than the Pragmatic one. Homeschooling is in no way pragmatic, think of all the other things Homeschooling parents could be doing instead of Homeschooling. They could be working, cleaning up the house or any number of different opportunities, but because they are homeschooling the end result will have fulfilled the goal of an education better than the practical way. This leads me to my third contention
Third Contention: My third contention is Progress with Idealism is a more complete reflection of the goal. Progress with Pragmatism however may be nothing near the goal.
Communism in Russia is an excellent event to explain my point.When the Soviet Union was formed it was based on A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single,authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people. Now according to Communism everyone is equal;why therefore did the leaders of the Soviets live in wealth and prosperity while the people suffered?The reason is that Leaders are required and it is an inherent fact that leaders will generally have more than the common folk,but having leaders did not reflect the ideals of Communism because it was a practical "pragmatic" organization that was necessary for The Soviet Union to survive but because of this they never truly reached their goal of Equality because the pragmatic way does not reflect the end goal as completely as Idealism will. If Idealism had been followed everyone be equal and therefore reflected their end goal of "equality".
