Stock issue

A stock issue is a way of categorizing arguments into specific topics. In Team Policy, four stock issues are commonly accepted, although other formulations may be used. In general, an Affirmative team must win all four stock issues to win the round.

The analogy of a table with four legs is commonly used to describe the stock issues: if one leg of the table is knocked down, the table will collapse. (While useful, many debaters consider this analogy to be over-used, and rather dislike it.)

Standard stock issues

 * Topicality: Concerns whether the Affirmative's case falls within the bounds of the resolution. Essentially, topicality arguments ask, "Are they debating about the right thing?"


 * Significance: Concerns whether the Affirmative's case is important enough to be worth considering, and addresses a significant problem that is worth trying to solve. Essentially, significance arguments ask, "Is this a significant issue that needs addressing?"


 * Inherency: There is some disagreement over the best definition of "inherency", but it generally concerns whether the Affirmative's case is actually addressing the core cause of the problem. "The problem is going away by itself", "Another law that will solve the problem has just been passed", or even "Their specific plan is already being implemented" are all examples of inherency arguments. Essentially, inherency arguments ask, "Is their plan really necessary to solve the problem?"


 * Solvency: Concerns whether the Affirmative's case will actually solve the problems they are trying to solve. Essentially, solvency arguments ask, "Will this plan actually work?"

Three questions
Some debaters use an alternate set of stock-issue-like categories that they consider more intelligible to community judges: "Is it needed?", "Will it work?", and "Is it worth it?" These questions do not directly correspond to the traditional stock issues (above), but in practice, they encompass the same set of issues (minus topicality, which is treated as a technical issue, rather than a stock issue.)