No. 64 min
The strongest version of the argument
Steelmanning is usually described as a courtesy owed to opponents. It is better understood as a tool for finding out whether you are right.
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Section
Philosophy
5 essays · back to the archive
No. 56 min
When legitimacy thins
A state can keep every procedure intact and still lose its claim on people. What that failure looks like from inside, and why it is usually mistaken for something else.
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No. 45 min
What makes a government legitimate?
Consent, performance, procedure — three answers that each work until you press them, and what remains when you notice none of them stands alone.
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No. 25 min
Against the marketplace of ideas
The metaphor is doing more work than it can bear — and the case for free expression is stronger without it.
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No. 14 min
Notes on political vocabulary
Five words that do more arguing than the arguments around them, and what happens to a dispute when you make them say what they mean.
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