Construct Steel Arguments Not Straw Ones We need to learn to argue more effectively to get at the truth

Construct steel arguments: We often employ a straw argument to help win a disagreement when we should use a steel argument.

Straw Arguments

You may be familiar with the concept of a strawman argument, often referred to as a straw man. To be gender-neutral, I call it a straw argument.

When we argue with someone and are more interested in winning the argument than getting at the truth, we often employ a straw argument to help win the disagreement.

We construct a weak or erroneous version of the other person’s argument and demolish it.

So, we are not arguing against what they said or what they believe; we are arguing against something we have constructed that we know we can effectively argue against.

Steel Arguments

In contrast to a straw argument, a steel argument involves first building the most robust possible version of your opponent’s position. You present this steel version to them and confirm it accurately captures their perspective. Once there is agreement on the most potent form of their viewpoint, you then argue against that steel version rather than a weaker straw one.

This steel approach leads to more constructive and productive debate by ensuring you are debating the best form of the other position.

This video below gives a beautiful example of constructing a steel argument.

Posts that link to this post

•  Levels of Conversation ** Four levels of conversation

POST NAVIGATION

CHAPTER NAVIGATION

SEARCH