Thinking method · Galef, The Scout Mindset

Build the strongest opposing case

Stating the other position so well that someone who holds it would agree with your version. Before defending anything you care about.

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Stating the other position so well that someone who holds it would agree with your version.

The steps

1. Write the opposing position as its own advocates would put it.
2. Add its best evidence, not its worst.
3. Ask: would someone who holds this recognise it? If not, you have built a strawman.
4. Find the part you genuinely cannot answer. That is the real disagreement.
5. Only now write your response, and address that part.

When to use it

Before defending anything you care about.

What it will not do

It does not resolve who is right. It finds where the argument actually is.

Where it comes from: Galef, The Scout Mindset. Described in our own words.