This is great, Louise. I tried the technique recently with the debate class I run in a Ukrainian online school. As you suggest, they found it completely counterintuitive at first - and very challenging - but they were sold by the end. The only thing I don't like about it is the term itself - to steelman sounds a bit odd as a verb - but it's a small price to pay for a great idea. Lovely post
Thanks Mark! I love hearing about real-world examples. That is so cool. It's funny that you mention the name. I really hemmed and hawed about whether to use it or one of the others that it is known by in philosophy: Principle of Charity or from Dennett's book, Intuition Pumps, Rapoport's Rules. Neither seemed to have the same ring to it, so Steelman it was. But if you (or anyone else) know of a better name, I'd welcome the suggestion. It's such a great technique and could really use a rebrand.
This is great, Louise. I tried the technique recently with the debate class I run in a Ukrainian online school. As you suggest, they found it completely counterintuitive at first - and very challenging - but they were sold by the end. The only thing I don't like about it is the term itself - to steelman sounds a bit odd as a verb - but it's a small price to pay for a great idea. Lovely post
Thanks Mark! I love hearing about real-world examples. That is so cool. It's funny that you mention the name. I really hemmed and hawed about whether to use it or one of the others that it is known by in philosophy: Principle of Charity or from Dennett's book, Intuition Pumps, Rapoport's Rules. Neither seemed to have the same ring to it, so Steelman it was. But if you (or anyone else) know of a better name, I'd welcome the suggestion. It's such a great technique and could really use a rebrand.
Haha, I'm always happy to defer to Daniel Dennett! As you say, it's such a great technique that I can cope with the term.