Argue Against the Best Version of the Other Side

It is easy to tear apart a weak version of someone's argument and walk away feeling smart. This is called a straw man, and it teaches you nothing. Steel-manning is the opposite: you take the opposing view, make it as strong and reasonable as possible, and then try to respond to it. If you cannot state the other side's position in a way they would agree with, you do not understand it well enough to argue against it.

This is not about being soft or giving up your beliefs. It is about sharpening them. When you force yourself to engage with the strongest form of a disagreement, your own thinking gets tighter, your blind spots shrink, and your conversations become far more productive.