Holiday: Steel-manning opposing arguments strengthens your own position
Ryan Holiday · #128 Ryan Holiday: A Stoic Life · Jan 11, 2022 · at 23:19
Author Ryan Holiday and host Shane Parrish discuss mental models and debate techniques, citing Peter Thiel's framing of steel-manning opposing arguments.
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“Instead of, you know, reducing your opponent's argument to a straw man this sort of caricature The least you know charitable interpretation of what they think and why, you know, actually really put yourself in their shoes. Try to argue it as well as possible. Usually, not only will you find that there's some validity to what they're saying, but it will make your argument stronger because you will have preemptively addressed the strongest parts of their argument.”
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