# Steelmanning: How to Argue Against the Strongest Version of a View > To steelman is to restate an opposing view in its strongest form before you respond. Learn steelman vs strawman, Rapoport's rules and a 5-step method. Canonical: https://mentarium.io/mental-models/steelmanning.md Mental model 6 min read By [Nemo](https://mentarium.io/about) Updated October 30, 2026 > **Steelmanning** is restating an opposing argument in its strongest, most charitable form before you respond to it. It is the opposite of strawmanning, which attacks a weakened version. A good steelman is one the other side would accept as fair, and it tests whether your own view survives the best case against it. - **Category**: Mental model (critical thinking and argument) - **Origin**: Principle of charity in philosophy; term popular since the 2010s - **Best used for**: Disagreements, debates, big decisions and testing your own beliefs - **Related**: Inversion, thought experiments, first-principles thinking ## Ask yourself - What is the strongest version of the view I disagree with? - Could I explain the other side well enough that they would say "yes, exactly"? - What would a smart, well-informed person who disagrees with me point to first? - Which part of their argument is actually right? - Does my view still hold against the best case for the alternative? ## What is steelmanning? Steelmanning is restating a view you disagree with in its strongest form, then responding to that version. The name is a play on the strawman: where a strawman is a flimsy caricature that is easy to knock down, a steelman is the toughest version you can build. The test of a good steelman is simple: the people who hold the view would recognize it and say you put it fairly, maybe even better than they would. If they would say “that is not what we believe,” you have not steelmanned yet. The point is not politeness. It is accuracy. If you only ever argue against weak versions of other views, you never learn whether your own view is actually better, and you will be surprised when it fails in the real world. ## Where it comes from The idea is much older than the name. In philosophy, the **principle of charity** says you should interpret what others say in its most reasonable form. John Stuart Mill made a related argument in _On Liberty_ (1859): “He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.” Mill argued you should hear opposing arguments from people who actually believe them and defend them in earnest. Philosopher Daniel Dennett, in _Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking_ (2013), described a version he attributed to the game theorist Anatol Rapoport, now known as **Rapoport’s rules**: 1. Restate your opponent’s position so clearly, vividly and fairly that they say, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.” 2. List any points of agreement, especially ones that are not widely shared. 3. Mention anything you have learned from your opponent. 4. Only then are you permitted to say a word of rebuttal or criticism. The word “steelman” itself spread through online rationalist and debate communities in the 2010s, and its exact origin is unclear. ## How to steelman 1. **State the other view in one sentence.** Write it down. Then ask whether a supporter would sign off on that sentence. Revise until they would. 2. **Find the best reasons, not the most common ones.** Look for the most careful thinkers on that side, not the loudest. What evidence or values do they rely on? 3. **Name what is true in it.** Almost every widely held view contains something correct. Write down the parts you agree with. This is Rapoport’s second rule, and it keeps you honest. 4. **Strengthen it further.** Ask what would make the argument even better: a missing piece of evidence, a clearer framing, a better example. Add it. 5. **Now respond.** Test your own view against the steelman. Either you have a good answer, and your position is stronger for it, or you do not, and you have learned something. Both outcomes are wins. This works well alongside [inversion](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/inversion): steelman the case against your plan, and you have done most of an inversion already. Mentarium Thinking Skills Make Claude and ChatGPT think with mental models 12 ready skills: first principles, inversion, pre-mortem, second-order, a bias audit, a red team and more. Install once, then ask for the model by name. [See Thinking Skills · $29](https://mentarium.io/shop/thinking-skills) ## 3 real-world examples ### Business Say a product team is split on whether to raise prices. The pro-raise side calls the other side “scared of customers.” A steelman of the anti-raise view sounds different: “Our growth depends on word of mouth from small customers. A price increase would hit them hardest, and we have no data yet on how they respond to price. Losing that channel would cost more than the extra revenue.” Once that is said out loud, the team can test it, perhaps by raising prices only for new customers first. The strawman would have hidden the real risk. (A hypothetical example.) ### Personal life In a disagreement with a partner about money, it is easy to reduce their view to “you just want to spend” or “you are just anxious.” A steelman might be: “You want us to enjoy our lives now, because you have seen people save for a future they did not get to enjoy.” Saying that back, and having them agree it is fair, often lowers the temperature more than any argument. It also shows you what the disagreement is really about. [Hanlon’s razor](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/hanlons-razor) helps here too: assume a reasonable motive before a bad one. ### Investing Before buying a stock, write the bear case as if you were the smartest short seller in the market. What would they point to? Debt, competition, accounting choices, a shrinking market? If your thesis survives the best bear case, it is a real thesis. If you cannot write a strong bear case, you probably do not understand the company well enough yet. This is one of the most practical defenses against [confirmation bias](https://mentarium.io/biases/confirmation-bias) in investing. ## Common mistakes - **Steelmanning a view nobody holds.** The steelman should be recognizable to real supporters, not a position you invented because it is easier to engage with. - **Using it as a setup for a bigger knockdown.** “Let me steelman this, and then destroy it” is often a strawman in disguise. Stay open to the possibility that the steelman wins. - **Confusing it with agreement.** You can steelman a view and still reject it. - **Steelmanning only the views you already half-like.** The model is most valuable on the views that annoy you most. - **Skipping the check with real people.** When you can, ask someone who holds the view whether your version is fair. ## Steelman vs strawman | | Steelman | Strawman | |---|---|---| | What it does | Strengthens the opposing view | Weakens or distorts the opposing view | | Goal | Find out what is true | Win the argument | | Test of success | The other side says “that is fair” | The audience laughs at the other side | | Effect on your own view | Tests it hard | Leaves it untested | | Effect on the conversation | Lowers defensiveness | Raises defensiveness | | Type | A thinking practice | A [logical fallacy](https://mentarium.io/critical-thinking/logical-fallacies) | ## The Mentarium take Steelmanning is the most direct countermeasure to confirmation bias we know of, because it forces you to look at the evidence you would otherwise skip. In the [Mentarium Decision Loop](https://mentarium.io/decision-making/decision-making-process), it belongs in the Stress-test step: before you commit to your favorite option, write the strongest case for the option you like least. If you cannot write it in a paragraph that its fans would accept, you are not ready to decide. It also makes you better company. People can tell when they have been understood, and they are far more willing to change their mind after it. As a skill, it pairs naturally with [thought experiments](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/thought-experiment) and [first-principles thinking](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/first-principles-thinking): all three ask you to rebuild an argument from its parts rather than react to its surface. A simple way to start: next time you are in a disagreement, before making your next point, say “Let me check I have your view right,” and restate it. Then ask whether you got it. The first attempt is usually off in a way that matters, and the correction tells you more about the real disagreement than the previous ten minutes of debate. It takes thirty seconds and is the fastest steelman there is. Over time, you will notice that the arguments worth having get shorter and the ones not worth having end sooner. And when you get it wrong, that is fine: the other person correcting your summary is part of the method, not a failure of it. **Counters** [Confirmation Bias](https://mentarium.io/biases/confirmation-bias) ## FAQ ### What does it mean to steelman an argument? It means building the strongest possible version of an argument you disagree with, often stronger than the way its supporters put it, and responding to that version. If your view survives, it is much better tested than if you only beat a weak version. ### What is the difference between a steelman and a strawman? A strawman misrepresents an opposing view as weaker or sillier than it is, then knocks it down. A steelman represents it as strong as possible. Strawmanning wins arguments cheaply; steelmanning tests whether you deserve to win. ### What are Rapoport's rules? A set of rules for criticizing an opponent's view, which philosopher Daniel Dennett attributed to game theorist Anatol Rapoport in his 2013 book Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking. First restate their position so clearly and fairly that they wish they had put it that way, then list points of agreement and anything you learned from them, and only then offer a rebuttal. ### Does steelmanning mean agreeing with the other side? No. You can steelman a view and still reject it. The goal is to understand it accurately and test your own position, not to change sides. Sometimes, though, the steelman shows you the other side was partly right. ### Is steelmanning the same as the principle of charity? They are closely related. The principle of charity, from philosophy, says to interpret others' statements in the most reasonable way. Steelmanning goes one step further and actively strengthens the argument, even adding support its holders did not mention. ## Related models & biases [Mental model Inversion Inversion is a mental model that approaches a problem from the opposite end: instead of asking how to succeed, you ask what would guarantee failure, then avoid those things. It also means testing a belief by asking what would have to be true for the opposite to be right. Charlie Munger made it famous in business.](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/inversion) [Mental model Thought Experiments A thought experiment is an imagined scenario used to test an idea, follow its consequences or expose a contradiction, without running a physical experiment. Galileo used one to challenge the belief that heavy objects fall faster, and Einstein credited imagining a ride alongside a light beam with starting his path to relativity.](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/thought-experiment) [Mental model First Principles Thinking First principles thinking is a way of reasoning that breaks a problem down to its most basic facts, the things you know are true without relying on convention or analogy, and then rebuilds a solution from those facts. It replaces "how is this usually done?" with "what is actually required?"](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/first-principles-thinking) [Mental model Hanlon's Razor Hanlon's razor is the rule of thumb "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." In practice it means that when someone's action hurts you, you should first consider mistakes, ignorance, carelessness or competing priorities before concluding they meant harm. It is a default, not a verdict.](https://mentarium.io/mental-models/hanlons-razor) [Cognitive bias Confirmation Bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret and remember information in a way that supports what you already believe, while overlooking or discounting evidence against it. It affects how you ask questions, which sources you trust and what you recall later, and it works mostly without you noticing.](https://mentarium.io/biases/confirmation-bias) Mentarium Decision Coach · free Use this with your AI Connect the free Decision Coach to Claude or ChatGPT and it walks you through the Decision Loop, picks the right Model Stack and runs the Bias Radar on your reasoning. [Connect it free](https://mentarium.io/coach) Mentarium Decision Coach · free Use this with your AI [Connect it free](https://mentarium.io/coach)