steelman

noun

1. A masculine steelworker.
2. A stronger version of an argument that one is about to critically analyze.

   “a "steel man" is an improvement of someone's position or argument that is harder to defeat than their originally stated position or argument.”

   “I want to make that strawman into a steelman, but I eliminated "the pursuit of happiness" from my to-do list so many years ago that I don't even know where I'd begin.”

verb

1. To repair flaws in an argument before analyzing it critically; to refute or to weaken the force of a stronger version of an argument than what was actually given.

   “I don't agree with the argument, because of 4. If I were to steelman it, which I may try but after work or maybe during lunch, I would first try to make it impervious to this assault:”

   “It is possible that while preparing for the talk I will manage to convince myself that the problem is in fact resolved or dissolved. In that case I will treat you to my best steelmanning of the problem, and its resolution.”

   “Perhaps the argument should be steelmanned in that we should generally avoid using algorithms which are so complex that they aren't glass boxes.”

   “And America would benefit if our culture of argument elevated the opposite approach, steel-manning, “the art of addressing the best form of the other person’s argument, even if it’s not the one they presented.” […] Coming full circle to our NPR host’s project, Messinger argues that “steelmanning makes you a better person.”

name

1. A surname.