In policy debate, a kritik (derived from German Kritik , meaning critique and traditionally pronounced as "critique", and often abbreviated K ) is generally a type of argument that challenges a certain mindset, assumption or discursive element that exists within the advocacy of the opposing team, often from the perspective of critical theory; it is often spelled in the normal English critique or is sometimes called a criticism , and takes the adjective form kritikal (meaning and pronounced as "critical").