Strawman essay

A steel-man argument is a variant of the straw man, and involves distorting your opponent’s argument in order to make it easier for them to defend, and more difficult for you to attack. Essentially, this means that you take your opponent’s original argument, and frame it in the best way possible before addressing it.

The name of the fallacy represents the idea that although a straw man may look like a human, it won't put up any resistance in a fight. The straw man fallacy also goes by the name Aunt Sally, particularly in Great Britain. Straw Man in Commercials Commercials make use of straw man fallacies.

Essentially, the person using the strawman pretends to attack their opponent’s stance, while in reality they are actually attacking a distorted version of that stance, which their opponent doesn’t necessarily support.

Although the term straw man is a recent coinage, the concept is ancient. In the "Topics," Aristotle acknowledges "that in argument it would be inappropriate to interpret as someone's position an opinion that he did not express or is not committed to, in virtue of what he said," according...