a “steel man” is an improvement of someone’s position or argument that is harder to defeat than their originally stated position or argument.
This seems compatible with both, to me. “You’re likely to underestimate the risks, and you can die even on a short trip” is a stronger argument than “You should always wear your seat belt because it is NEVER safe to be in a car without a seat belt”, and cannot be so easily defeated as saying “Parked in the garage. Checkmate”.
Reading through the hyperbole to the reasonable point underneath is still an example of addressing “the best form of the other person’s argument”, and it’s not the one they presented.
This seems compatible with both, to me. “You’re likely to underestimate the risks, and you can die even on a short trip” is a stronger argument than “You should always wear your seat belt because it is NEVER safe to be in a car without a seat belt”, and cannot be so easily defeated as saying “Parked in the garage. Checkmate”.
Reading through the hyperbole to the reasonable point underneath is still an example of addressing “the best form of the other person’s argument”, and it’s not the one they presented.