#153: Steelmanning, Truth Decay & the Three Stages of Truth
3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Discovering the Truth
I. Steelmanning
Steelmanning is the painful art of crafting the best possible version, not of your own argument, but that of your opponent. The underlying principle has never been more eloquently described than by English philosopher John Stuart Mill.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
—John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
👉 For more on this, check out my long-form articles on Rapoport’s Rules or Steelmanning.
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