Verdict+Claire

Verdict • concise 250-300 words (word count excludes quoted material) • states clearly why Position 1 or Position 2 ‘won’ the trial • use at least one piece of textual support that was key to the winning argument

Was the following statement PROVED OR DISPROVED in the trial? “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.”

Thesis: “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.” I think position 2 (disproving the thesis) won this trial. The witnesses of position 2 proved many points, which persuaded me that position 2 won. There were more textual evidence quoted and more arguments made. During the cross examination, position 2 was better at explaining and rebutting the questions given to them. For example, the lawyers of position 2 disproved the fact that the Dragon thinks that life is meaningless and it doesn’t have a purpose. Hyun claimed that the purpose of life for the Dragon was happiness, since they like to sit on gold, and claimed that they were contradicting themselves by claiming their sole happiness is to sit on gold. Also position 1 didn’t have enough evidence to support their position. Their claims like “I can see from high above” seemed omniscient and boasting. There was no evidence on it at all. Also, the lawyer of position 1’s opening statement was irrelevant to the topic. Students waking up at 3o’ clock and the thesis of the trial didn’t have any relevance, thus not being a valid statement.