The danger you point out is real, but an unqualified dictum such as “DH7 should be kept internal, at least at first” is very specific advice that IMO is going too far. A great deal depends on the quality of the sub-argument to do with strengthening the opponent’s position, and the opponent’s (and/or audience’s, if any) receptiveness to that. You seem to be saying we should always have low confidence in both, while I’d say it depends.
If we imagine arguments as soldiers
Maybe let’s not. Applying DH7 already assumes we’re interested in truth, not just in winning a debate.
I don’t ALWAYS have low confidence in the other arguer’s ability to tolerate a steel man version of their own argument. I do have low confidence in the ability of most people, especially me, to decide what constitutes a non-gratuitous steel man. I have an unfortunate, but understandable, bias in favor of my own creations, and I suspect that this bias is widely shared.
The danger you point out is real, but an unqualified dictum such as “DH7 should be kept internal, at least at first” is very specific advice that IMO is going too far. A great deal depends on the quality of the sub-argument to do with strengthening the opponent’s position, and the opponent’s (and/or audience’s, if any) receptiveness to that. You seem to be saying we should always have low confidence in both, while I’d say it depends.
Maybe let’s not. Applying DH7 already assumes we’re interested in truth, not just in winning a debate.
I don’t ALWAYS have low confidence in the other arguer’s ability to tolerate a steel man version of their own argument. I do have low confidence in the ability of most people, especially me, to decide what constitutes a non-gratuitous steel man. I have an unfortunate, but understandable, bias in favor of my own creations, and I suspect that this bias is widely shared.