Interactive exercise: The idea of a ‘balloon debate’ is that contestants have to imagine that they are travelling in a hot-air balloon that is running out of fuel and is about to crash into a mountain. In order to save the lives of the majority, it is decided that one person must be tipped out of the basket. Each person in the basket therefore has to argue why they would represent the greatest loss to society if they were to be sacrificed.

In the balloon debate, each person normally has to argue the case for a famous person or an ideology. In this exercise, we suggest that groups argue the case for one of the philosophical positions outlined above. So, divide into groups of four or five people. Each group should:

pick one general philosophical position described in the penultimate section

(i.e. critical theory, feminism, hermeneutics etc.)

summarize its main features draw out the methodological implications for researching a question or issue make the case to the rest of the class for why this is a valuable philosophy/method and why it should not be thrown out of the balloon.

After each group has presented, groups must identify one of two philosophies that should remain in the balloon. (There must be no self-nominations or tactical voting!)